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The limb bent beneath the weight of the two 




T A R Z A N 

THE UNTAMED 

BY 

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS 

w 

AUTHOR OF 

JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN, 

THE WARLORD OF MARS, 

THE GODS OF MARS, Etc. 

ILLUSTRATED BY 

J. ALLEN ST. JOHN 



GROSSET & DUNLAP 

PUBLISHERS NEWYORK 


Made in the United States of America 



'B‘=)4-4 

Tali’ 

3 

cop^ 


CopyrJglit 

Bdgar Rice Burroughs 
1920 


Published April, 


^n^iglutd i» Grtat BritMSi 




Printed in the United States of Amer^ 


CONTENTS 


t®[APTER PAGE 

I Murder and Pillage , 1 

II The Lion's Cave 20 

III In the German Lines . 41 

IV When the Lion Fed 55 

V The Golden Locket 77 

VI Vengeance and Mercy 98 

VII When Blood Told 114 

VIII Tarzan and the Great Apes 129 

IX Dropped from the Sky 155 

X In the Hands of Savages 177 

XI Finding the Airplane 199 

XII The Black Flier 216 

XIII Usanga’s Reward 228 

XIV The Black Lion 240 

XV Mysterious Footprints 257 

XVI The Night Attack 276 

XVII The Walled City 289 

XVIII Among the Maniacs 305 

XIX The Queen's Story 326 

XX Came Tarzan 350 

XXI In the Alcove 363 

XXII Out of the Niche 382 

XXIII The Flight from Xuja 396 

XXIV The Tommies * . • . 416 



TARZAN 

the Untamed. 





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Tarzan the Untamed 


CHAPTER I 

MURDER AND PILLAGE 

H auptmann fritz schneider trudged 

wearily through the somber aisles of the dark 
forest. Sweat rolled down his bullet head and stood 
upon his heavy jowls and bull neck. His lieutenant 
marched beside him while Unterlieutenant von Goss 
brought up the rear, following with a handful of 
askaris the tired and all but exhausted porters whom 
the black soldiers, following the example of their 
white oflScer, encouraged with the sharp points of 
bayonets and the metal-shod butts of rifles. 

There were no porters within reach of Hauptmann 
Schneider so he vented his Prussian spleen upon the 
askaris nearest at hand, yet with greater circumspec- 
tion since these men bore loaded rifles ^ — and the 
three white men were alone with them in the heart 
of Africa. 

Ahead of the Hauptmann marched half his com- 
pany, behind him the other half — thus were the 
dangers of the savage jungle minimized for the 
German captain. At the forefront of the column 
1 


2, 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


staggered two naked savages fastened to each other 
by a neck chain. These were the native guides 
impressed into the service of Kultur and upon their 
poor, bruised bodies Kultur’s brand was revealed in 
divers cruel wounds and bruises. 

Thus even in darkest Africa was the light of Ger- 
man civilization commencing to reflect itself upon 
the undeserving natives just as at the same period, 
the fall of 1914, it was shedding its glorious 
effulgence upon benighted Belgium. 

It is true that the guides had led the party 
astray ; but this is the way of most African guides. 
Nor did it matter that ignorance rather than evil 
intent had been the cause of their failure. It was 
enough for Hauptmann Fritz Schneider to know 
that he was lost in the African wilderness and that 
he had at hand human beings less powerful than he 
who could be made to suffer by torture. That 
he did not kill them outright was partially due to a 
faint hope that they might eventually prove the 
means of extricating him from his difficulties and 
partially that so long as they lived they might still 
be made to suffer. 

The poor creatures, hoping that chance might 
lead them at last upon the right trail, insisted that 
they knew the way and so led on through a dismal 
forest along a winding game trail trodden deep by 
the feet of countless generations of the savage deni- 
zens of the jungle. 

Here Tantor, the elephant, took his long way 
from dust wallow to water. Here Buto, the rhinoc- 


MURDER AND PILLAGE 


3 


eros, blundered blindly in his solitary majesty, while 
by night the great cats paced silently upon their 
padded feet beneath the dense canopy of overreach- 
ing trees toward the broad plain beyond where they 
found their best hunting. 

It was at the edge of this plain which came sud- 
denly and unexpectedly before the eyes of the guides 
that their sad hearts beat with renewed hope. Here 
the Hauptmann drew a deep sigh of relief, for after 
days of hopeless wandering through almost impene- 
trable jungle, the broad vista of waving grasses dot- 
ted here and there with open parklike woods and in 
the far distance the winding line of green shrubbery 
that denoted a river, appeared to the European a 
veritable heaven. 

The Hun smiled in his relief, passed a cheery word 
with his lieutenant, and then scanned the broad plain 
with his field glasses. Back and forth they swept 
across the rolling land until at last they came to rest 
upon a point near the center of the landscape and 
close to the green-fringed contours of the river. 

‘‘We are in luck,” said Schneider to his com- 
panions. “Do you see it?” 

The lieutenant who was also gazing through his 
own glasses, finally brought them to rest upon the 
same spot that had held the attention of his superior. 

“Yes,” he said, “an English farm. It must be 
Greystoke’s for there is none other in this part of 
British East Africa. God is with us, Herr 
Captain.” 

“We have come up'>n the English swinehund long 


4 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


before he can have learned that his country is at 
war with ours,” replied Schneider. “Let him b« 
the first to feel the iron hand of Germany.” 

“Let us hope that he is at home,” said the lieu- 
tenant, “that we may take him with us when we 
report to Kraut at Nairobi. It will go weU indeed 
with Herr Hauptmann Fritz Schneider if he bringt 
in the famous Tarzan of the Apes as a prisoner of 
war.” 

Schneider smiled and puffed out his chest. ^‘You 
are right, my friend,” he said, “it will go well with 
both of us; but I shall have to travel far to catch 
General Kraut before he reaches Mombasa. These 
English pigs with their contemptible army will make 
good time to the Indian Ocean.” 

It was in a better frame of mind that the small 
force set out across the open country toward the 
trim and well-kept farm buildings of John Clayton, 
Lord Greystoke ; but disappointment was to be their 
lot since neither Tarzan of the Apes nor his son 
were at home. 

Lady Jane, ignorant of the fact that a state of 
war existed between Great Britain and Germany, 
welcomed the officers most hospitably and gave 
orders through her trusted Waziri to prepare a 
feast for the black soldiers of the enemy. 

Far to the east, Tarzan of the Apes was traveling 
rapidly from Nairobi toward the farm. At Nairobi 
he had received news of the World War that had 
already started, and anticipating an immediate in' 


MURDER AND PILLAGE 


5 


vasion of British East Africa by the Germans, was 
hurrying homeward to fetch his wife to a place of 
greater security. With him were a score of his 
ebon warriors, but far too slow for the ape-man 
was the progress of these trained and hardened 
woodsmen. 

When necessity demanded, Tarzan of the Apes 
sloughed the thin veneer of his civilization and with 
it the hampering apparel that was its badge. In 
a moment the polished English gentleman reverted 
to the naked ape-man. 

His mate was in danger. For the time that 
single thought dominated. He did not think of 
her as Lady Jane Greystoke, but rather as the she 
he had won by the might of his steel thews, and 
that he must hold and protect by virtue of the same 
offensive armament. 

It was no member of the House of Lords who 
swung swiftly and grimly through the tangled 
forest or trod with untiring muscles the wide 
stretches of open plain — it was a great he ape filled 
with a single purpose that excluded all thoughts of 
fatigue or danger. 

Little Manu, the monkey, scolding and chatter- 
ing in the upper terraces of the forest, saw him 
pass. Long had it been since he had thus beheld 
the great Tarmangani naked and alone hurtling 
through the jungle. Bearded and gray was Manu, 
the monkey, and to his dim old eyes came the fire of 
recollection of those days when Tarzan of the Apes 
had ruled supreme, Lord of the Jungle, over all 


6 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


the myriad life that trod the matted vegetation be- 
tween the boles of the great trees, or flew or swung 
or climbed in the leafy fastnesses upward to the 
very apex of the loftiest terraces. 

And Numa, lying up for the day close beside 
last night’s successful kill, blinked his yellow-green 
eyes and twitched his tawny tail as he caught the 
scent spoor of his ancient enemy. 

Nor was Tarzan senseless to the presence of 
Numa or Manu or any of the many jungle beasts 
he passed in his rapid flight towards the west. No 
particle had his shallow probing of English society 
dulled his marvelous sense faculties. His nose had 
picked out the presence of Numa, the lion, even 
before the majestic king of beasts was aware of his 
passing. 

He had heard noisy little Manu, and even the 
soft rustling of the parting shrubbery where Sheeta 
passed before either of these alert animals sensed 
his presence. 

But however keen the senses of the ape-man, how- 
ever swift his progress through the wild country 
of his adoption, however mighty the muscles that 
bore him, he was still mortal. Time and space 
placed their inexorable limits upon him; nor was 
there another who realized this truth more keenly 
thati Tarzan. He chafed and fretted that he could 
not travel with the swiftness of thought and that 
the long tedious miles stretching far ahead of him 
must require hours and hours of tireless effort upon 
his part before he would swing at last from the 


MURDER AND PILLAGE 


7 


final bough of the fringing forest into the open plain 
and in sight of his goal. 

Days it took, even though he lay up at night for 
but a few hours and left to chance the finding of 
meat directly on his trail. If Wappi, the antelope, 
or Horta, the boar, chanced in his way when he was 
hungry, he ate, pausing but long enough to make 
the kill and cut himself a steak. 

Then at last the long journey drew to its close 
and he was passing through the last stretch of heavy 
forest that bounded his estate upon the east, and 
then this was traversed and he stood upon the plain’s 
edge looking out across his broad lands towards his 
home. 

At the first glance his eyes narrowed and his 
muscles tensed. Even at that distance he could 
see that something was amiss. A thin spiral of 
smoke arose at the right of the bungalow where 
the bams had stood, but there were no bams there 
now, and from the bungalow chimney from which 
smoke should have arisen, there arose nothing. 

Once again Tarzan of the Apes was speeding 
onward, this time even more swiftly than before 
for he was goaded now by a nameless fear, more 
the product of intuition than of reason. Even as 
the beasts, Tarzan of the Apes seemed to possess 
a sixth sense. Long before he reached the bungalow, 
he had almost pictured the scene that finally broke 
upon his view. 

Silent and deserted was the vine-covered cottage. 
Smoldering embers marked the site of his great 


8 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


bams. Gone were the thatched huts of his sturdy 
retainers, empty the fields, the pastures, and corrals. 
Here and there vultures rose and circled above the 
carcasses of men and beasts. 

It was with a feeling as nearly akin to terror a« 
he ever had experienced that the ape-man finally 
forced himself to enter his home. The first sight 
that met his eyes set the red haze of hate and blood- 
lust across his vision, for there, crucified against the 
wall of the living-room, was Wasimbu, giant son of 
the faithful Muviro and for over a year the per- 
sonal bodyguard of Lady Jane. 

The overturned and shattered furniture of the 
room, the brown pools of dried blood upon the floor, 
and prints of bloody hands on walls and woodwork 
evidenced something of the frightfulness of the 
battle that had been waged within the narrow con- 
fines of the apartment. Across the baby-grand piano 
lay the corpse of another black warrior, while before 
the door of Lady Jane’s boudoir were the dead 
bodies of three more of the faithful Greystoke 
servants. 

The door of this room was closed. With drooping 
shoulders and dull eyes Tarzan stood gazing dumbly 
at the insensate panel which hid from him what 
horrid secret he dared not even guess. 

Slowly with leaden feet he moved toward the door. 
Gropingly his hand reached for the knob. Thus he 
stood for another long minute and then with a 
sudden gesture he straightened his giant frame, 
threw back his mighty shoulders and with fearless 


MURDER AND PILLAGE 


9 


head held high, swung back the door and stepped 
across the threshold into the room which held for 
him the dearest memories and associations of his 
life. No change of expression crossed his grim and 
stern-set features as he strode across the room and 
stood beside the little couch and the inanimate form 
which lay face downward upon it; the still, silent 
thing that had pulsed with life and youth and love. 

No tear dimmed the eye of the ape-man; but the 
Ood who made him alone could know the thoughts 
that passed through that still half-savage brain. 
For a long time he stood there just looking down 
upon the dead body, charred beyond recognition, 
and then he stooped and lifted it in his arms. As 
he turned the body over and saw how horribly death 
had been meted he plumbed, in that instant, the 
uttermost depths of grief and horror and hatred. 

Nor did he require the evidence of the broken 
German rifle in the outer room, or the tom and 
blood-stained service cap upon the floor, to tell him 
who had been the perpetrators of this horrid and 
useless crime. 

For a moment he had hoped against hope that the 
blackened corpse was not that of his mate, but when 
his eyes discovered and recognized the rings upon 
her fingers the last faint ray of hope forsook him. 

In silence, in love, and in reverence he buried, in 
the little rose garden that had been Jane Clayton’s 
pride and love, the poor, charred form and beside 
it the great black warriors who had given their lives 
so futilely in their mistress’ protection. 


10 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


At one side of the house Tarzan found other 
newly made graves and in these he sought final evi- 
dence of the identity of the real perpetrators of the 
atrocities that had been committed there in his 
absence. 

Here he disinterred the bodies of a dozen German 
askaris and found upon their uniforms the insignia 
of thti company and regiment to which they had 
belonged. This was enough for the ape-man. White 
officers had com.manded these men, nor would it be 
a difficult tafck to discover who they were. 

Returning to the rose garden, he stood among 
the Hun-trampled blooms and bushes above the 
grave of his dead with bowed head he stood there 
in a last mute farewell. As the sun sank slowly 
behind the towering fo/ests of the west, he turned 
slowly away upon the sUlJ- distinct trail of Haupt- 
mann Fritz Schneider and his blood-stained company. 

His was the suffering of the dumb brute — mute; 
but though voiceless no less poignant. At first his 
vast sorrow numbed his other faculties of thought — 
his brain was overwhelmed by the calamity to such 
an extent that it reacted to but a single objective 
suggestion: She is dead! She is dead! She is dead>' 
Again and again this phrase beat monotonously upon 
his brain — a dull, throbbing pain, yet mechanically 
his feet followed the trail of her slayer while, sub- 
consciously, his every sense was upon the alert for 
the ever-present perils of the jungle. 

Gradually the labor of his great grief brought 
forth another emotion so real, so tangible that it 


MURDER AND PILLAGE 


11 


seemed a companion walking at his side. It was 
Hate — and it brought to him a measure of solace 
and of comfort, for it was a sublime hate that en- 
nobled him as it has ennobled countless thousands 
since — hatred for Germany and Germans. It cen- 
tered about the slayer of his mate, of course; but 
it included everything German, animate or inani- 
mate. As the thought took firm hold upon him he 
paused and raising his face to Goro, the moon, 
cursed with upraised hand the authors of the hideous 
crime that had been perpetrated in that once peace- 
ful bungalow behind him ; and he cursed their 
progenitors, their progeny, and all their kind the 
while he took silent oath to war upon them relent- 
lessly until death overtook him. 

There followed almost immediately a feeling of 
content, for where before his future at best seemed 
but a void, now it was filled with possibilities the 
Contemplation of which brought him, if not happi- 
ness, at least a surcease of absolute grief for before 
him lay a great work that would occupy his time. 

Stripped not only of all the outward symbols of 
civilization, Tarzan had also reverted morally and 
mentally to the status of the savage beast he had 
been reared. Never had his civilization been more 
than a veneer put on for the sake of her he loved 
because he thought it made her happier to see him 
thus. In reality he had always held the outward 
evidences of so-called culture in deep contempt. 
Civilization meant to Tarzan of the Apes a curtail- 
ment of freedom in all its aspects — freedom of 




TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


action, freedom of thought, freedom of love, freedom 
of hate. Clothes he abhorred — uncomfortable, 
hideous, confining things that reminded him some- 
how of bonds securing him to the life he had seen 
the poor creatures of London and Paris living. 
Clothes were the emblems of that hypocrisy for which 
civilization stood — a pretense that the wearers were 
ashamed of what the clothes covered, of the human 
form made in the semblance of God. Tarzan knew 
how silly and pathetic the lower orders appeared 
in the clothing of civilization, for he had seen several 
poor creatures thus appareled in various traveling 
shows in Europe, and he knew, too, how silly and 
pathetic man appears in them since the only men 
he had seen in the first twenty years of his life had 
been, like himself, naked savages. The ape-man had 
a keen admiration for a well-muscled, well-propor- 
tioned body, whether lion, or antelope, or man, and 
it had ever been beyond him to understand how 
clothes could be considered more beautiful than a 
clear, firm, healthy skin, or coat and trousers more 
graceful than the gentle curves of rounded muscles 
playing beneath a flexible hide. 

In civilization Tarzan had found greed and self- 
ishness and cruelty far beyond that which he had 
known in his familiar, savage jungle, and though 
civilization had given him his mate and several 
friends whom he loved and admired, he never had 
come to accept it as you and I who have known 
little or nothing else ; so it was with a sense of relief 
that he now definitely abandoned it and all that it 


MURDER AND PILLAGE 


13 


stood for, and went forth into the jungle once again 
stripped to his loin cloth and weapons. 

The hunting knife of his father hung at his left 
hip, his bow and his quiver of arrows were slung 
across his shoulders, while around his chest over 
one shoulder and beneath the opposite arm wsia 
coiled the long grass rope without which Tarzan 
would have felt quite as naked as would you should 
you be suddenly thrust upon a busy highway clad 
only in a union suit. A heavy war spear which he 
sometimes carried in one hand and again slung by 
a thong about his neck so that it hung down his 
back completed his armament and his apparel. The 
diamond-studded locket with the pictures of his 
mother and father that he had worn always until 
he had given it as a token of his highest devotion 
to Jane Clayton before their marriage was missing. 
She always had worn it since; but it had not been 
upon her body when he found her slain in her 
boudoir so that now his quest for vengeance in- 
cluded also a quest for the stolen trinket. 

Toward midnight Tarzan commenced to feel the 
physical strain of his long hours of travel and to 
realize that even muscles such as his had their limi- 
tations. His pursuit of the murderers had not been 
characterized by excessive speed; but rather more 
in keeping with his mental attitude which was 
marked by a dogged determination to require from 
the Germans more than an eye for an eye and more 
than a tooth for a tooth, the element of time entering 
but slightly into his calculations. 


14 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Inwardly as well as outwardly Tarzan had re- 
verted to beast and in the lives of beasts, time, as 
a measurable aspect of duration, has no meaning. 
The beast is actively interested only in now, and as 
it is always now and always shall be, there is an 
eternity of time for the accomplishment of objects. 
The ape-man, naturally, had a slightly more com- 
prehensive realization of the limitations of time; 
but, like the beasts, he moved with majestic delibera- 
tion when no emergency prompted him to swift 
action. 

Having dedicated his life to vengeance, vengeance 
became his natural state and, therefore, no emer- 
gency, so he took his time in pursuit. That he had 
not rested earlier was due to the fact that he had 
felt no fatigue, his mind being occupied by thoughts 
of sorrow and revenge; but now he realized that he 
was tired and so he sought a jungle giant that had 
harbored him upon more than a single other jungle 
night. 

Dark clouds moving swiftly across the heavens 
now and again eclipsed the bright face of Goro, the 
moon, and forewarned the ape-man of impending 
storm. In the depth of the jungle the cloud shadows 
produced a thick blackness that might almost be 
felt — a blackness that to you and me might have 
proven terrifying with its accompaniment of rustling 
leaves and cracking twigs, and its even more sug- 
gestive intervals of utter silence in which the crudest 
of imaginations might have conjured crouching 
beasts of prey tensed for the fatal charge; but 


MURDER AND PILLAGE 


15 


through it Tarzan passed unconcerned yet always 
alert. Now he swung lightly to the lower terraces 
of the overarching trees when some subtle sense 
warned him that Numa lay upon a kill directly in 
his path, or again he sprang lightly to one side as 
Buto, the rhinoceros, lumbered toward him along 
the narrow, deep-worn trail, for the ape-man, ready 
to fight upon necessity’s slightest pretext, avoided 
unnecessary quarrels. 

When he swung himself at last into the tree he 
sought, the moon was obscured by a heavy cloud, 
the tree tops were waving wildly in a steadily in- 
creasing wind whose soughing drowned the lesser 
noises of the jungle. Upward went Tarzan toward 
a sturdy crotch across which he long since had laid 
and secured a little platform of branches. It was 
very dark now, darker even than it had been before, 
for almost the entire sky was overcast by thick, black 
clouds. 

Presently the man-beast paused, his sensitive nos- 
trils dilating as he sniffed the air about him. Then, 
with the swiftness and agility of a cat, he leaped far 
outward upon a swaying branch, sprang upward 
through the darkness, caught another, swung him- 
self upon it and then to one still higher. What 
could have so suddenly transformed his matter-of- 
fact ascent of the giant bole to the swift and wary 
action of his detour among the branches? You or 
I could have seen nothing — not even the little plat- 
form that an instant before had been just above 
him and which now was immediately below — but as 


16 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


he swung above it we should have heard an ominous 
growl, and then as the moon was momentarily un- 
covered, we should have seen both the platform, 
dimly, and a dark mass that lay stretched upon it — 
a dark mass that presently, as our eyes became ac- 
customed to the lesser darkness, would take the form 
of Sheeta, the panther. 

In answer to the cat’s growl, a low and equally 
ferocious growl rumbled upward from the ape-man’s 
deep chest — a growl of warning that told the panther 
he was trespassing upon the other’s lair; but Sheeta 
was in no mood to be dispossessed. With upturned, 
snarling face he glared at the brown-skinned Tar- 
mangani above him. Very slowly the ape-man moved 
inward along the branch until he was directly above 
the panther. In the man’s hand was the hunting 
knife of his long-dead father — the weapon that had 
first given him his real ascendency over the beasts 
of the jungle; but he hoped not to be forced to use 
it, knowing as he did that more jungle battles were 
settled by hideous growling than by actual combat, 
the law of bluff holding quite as good in the jungle 
as elsewhere — only in matters of love and food did 
the great beasts ordinarily close with fangs and» 
talons. 

Tarzan braced himself against the bole of the tree 
and leaned closer toward Sheeta. 

“ Stealer of balus ! ” he cried. The panther rose 
to a sitting position, his bared fangs but a few feet 
from the ape-man’s taunting face. Tarzan growled 
hideously and struck at the cat’s face with his knife. 


MURDER AND PILLAGE 


17 


‘‘I am Tarzan of the Apes,” he roared. “This is 
Tarzan’s lair. Go, or I will kill you.” Though he 
spoke in the language of the great apes of the jungle, 
it is doubtful that Sheeta understood the words, 
though he knew well enough that the hairless ape 
wished to frighten him from his well-chosen station 
past which edible creatures might be expected to 
wander sometime during the watches of the night. 

Like lightning the cat reared and struck a vicious 
blow at his tormentor with great, bared talons that 
might well have torn away the ape-man’s face had 
the blow landed; but it did not land — Tarzan was 
even quicker than Sheeta. As the panther came to 
all fours again upon the little platform, Tarzan 
unslung his heavy spear and prodded at the snarling 
face, and as Sheeta warded off the blows, the two 
continued their horrid duet of blood-curdling roars 
and growls. 

Goaded to frenzy the cat presently determined 
to come up after this disturber of his peace; but 
when he essayed to leap to the branch that held 
Tarzan he found the sharp spear point always in 
his face, and each time as he dropped back he was 
prodded viciously in some tender part ; but at length, 
rage having conquered his better judgment, he leaped 
up the rough bole to the very branch upon which 
Tarzan stood. Now the two faced each other upon 
even footing and Sheeta saw a quick revenge and 
a supper all in one. The hairless ape-thing with 
the tiny fangs and the puny talons would be helpless 
before him. 


18 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


The heavy limb bent beneath the weight of the 
two beasts as Sheeta crept cautiously out upon it 
and Tarzan backed slowly away, growling. The 
wind had risen to the proportions of a gale so that 
even the greatest giants of the forest swayed, groan- 
ing, to its force and the branch upon which the 
two faced each other rose and fell like the deck of 
a storm-tossed ship. Goro was now entirely ob- 
scured, but vivid flashes of lightning lit up the jungle 
at brief intervals revealing the grim tableau of 
primitive passion upon the swaying limb. 

Tarzan backed away drawing Sheeta farther from 
the stem of the tree and out upon the tapering 
branch where his footing became ever more pre- 
carious. The cat, infuriated by the pain of spear 
wounds, was overstepping the bounds of caution. 
Already he had reached a point where he could do 
little more than maintain a secure footing and it 
was this moment that Tarzan chose to charge. With 
a roar that mingled with the booming thunder from 
above he leaped toward the panther, who could only 
claw futilely with one huge paw while he clung to 
the branch with the others ; but the ape-man did not 
come within that parabola of destruction. Instead 
he leaped above menacing claws and snapping fangs, 
turning in mid-air and alighting upon Sheeta’s back, 
and at the instant of impact his knife struck deep 
into the tawny side. Then Sheeta, impelled by pain 
and hate and rage and the first law of Nature, went 
mad. Screaming and clawing he attempted to turn 
upon the ape-thing clinging to his back. For an in- 


MURDER AND PILLAGE 


19 


stant he toppled upon the now wildly gyrating limb, 
clutched frantically to save himself and then plunged 
downward into the darkness with Tarzan still cling- 
ing to him. Crashing through splintering branches 
the two fell. Not for an instant did the ape-man 
consider relinquishing his death-hold upon his ad- 
versary. He had entered the lists in mortal combat 
and true to the primitive instincts of the wild — the 
unwritten law of the jungle — one or both must die 
before the battle ended. 

Sheeta, catlike, alighted upon four out-sprawled 
feet, the weight of the ape-man crushing him to 
earth, the long knife again imbedded in his side. 
Once the panther struggled to rise ; but only to sink 
to earth again. Tarzan felt the giant muscles relax 
beneath him. Sheeta was dead. Rising, the ape- 
man placed a foot upon the body of his vanquished 
foe, raised his face toward the thundering heavens, 
and as the lightning flashed and the torrential rain 
broke upon him, screamed forth the wild victory cry 
of the bull ape. 

Having accomplished his aim and driven the enemy 
from his lair, Tarzan gathered an armful of large 
fronds and climbed to his dripping couch. Laying 
a few of the fronds upon the poles he lay down and 
covered himself against the rain with the others, 
and despite the wailing of the wind and the crashing 
of the thunder, immediately fell asleep. 


CHAPTER II 


THE LION S CAVE 


HE rain lasted for twenty-four hours and much 



of the time it fell in torrents so that when it 


ceased, the trail he had been following was entirely 
obliterated. Cold and uncomfortable — it was a 
savage Tarzan who threaded the mazes of the soggy 
jungle. Manu, the monkey, shivering and chatter- 
ing in the dank trees, scolded and fled at his ap- 
proach. Even the panthers and the lions let the 
growling Tarmangani pass unmolested. 

When the sun shone again upon the second day 
and a wide, open plain let the full heat of Kudu 
flood the chilled, brown body, Tarzan’s spirits rose; 
but it was still a sullen, surly brute that moved 
steadily onward into the south where he hoped again 
to pick up the trail of the Germans. He was now 
in German East Africa and it was his intention to 
skirt the mountains west of Kilimanjaro, whose 
rugged peaks he was quite willing to give a wide 
berth, and then swing eastward along the south side 
of the range to the railway that led to Tanga, for 
his experience among men suggested that it wa» 
toward this railroad that German troops would be 
likely to converge. 


20 


THE LION^S CAVE 




Two days later, from the southern slopes of Kili- 
manjaro, he heard the boom of cannon far away 
to the east. The afternoon had been dull and cloudy 
and now as he was passing through a narrow gorge 
a few great drops of rain began to splatter upon 
his naked shoulders. Tarzan shook his head and 
growled his disapproval, then he cast his eyes about 
for shelter for he had had quite enough of the cold 
and drenching. He wanted to hasten on in the direc- 
tion of the booming noise for he knew that there 
would be Germans fighting against the English. 
For an instant his bosom swelled with pride at the 
thought that he was English and then he shook his 
head again viciously. “ No ! ” he muttered, “ Tarzan 
of the Apes is not English, for the English are men 
and Tarzan is Tarmangani;” but he could not hide 
even from his sorrow or from his sullen hatred ot 
mankind in general that his heart warmed at the 
thought it was Englishmen who fought the Germans. 
His regret was that the English were human and 
not great white apes as he again considered himself. 

‘‘ Tomorrow,” he thought, “ I will travel that way 
and find the Germans,” and then he set himself to 
the immediate task of discovering some shelter from 
the storm. Presently he espied the low and narrow 
entrance to what appeared to be a cave at the base 
of the cliffs which formed the northern side of the 
gorge. With drawn knife he approached the spot 
warily for he knew that if it were a cave it was 
doubtless the lair of some other beast. Before the 
entrance lay many large fragments of rock of dif- 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


22 


ferent sizes, similar to others scattered along tho 
entire base of the cliff, and it was in Tarzan’s mind 
that if he found the cave unoccupied, he would barri- 
cade the door and insure himself a quiet and peaceful 
night’s repose within the sheltered interior. Let the 
storm rage without, Tarzan would remain within 
until it ceased, comfortable and dry. A tiny rivulet 
of cold water trickled outward from the opening. 

Close to the cave Tarzan kneeled and sniffed the 
ground. A low growl escaped him and his upper 
lip curved to expose his fighting fangs. ‘‘Numa!” 
he muttered; but he did not stop. Numa might not 
be at home — he would investigate. The entrance 
was so low that the ape-man was compelled to drop 
to all fours before he could poke his head within 
the aperture; but first he looked, listened, and 
sniffed in each direction at his rear — he would not 
be taken by surprise from that quarter. 

His first glance within the cave revealed a narrow 
tunnel with daylight at its farther end. The interior 
of the tunnel was not so dark but that the ape-man 
could readily see that it was untenanted at present. 
Advancing cautiously he crawled toward the oppo- 
site end imbued with a full realization of what it 
would mean if Numa should suddenly enter the tun- 
nel in front of him; but Numa did not appear and 
the ape-man emerged at length into the open and 
stood erect, finding himself in a rocky cleft whose 
precipitous walls rose almost sheer on every hand, 
the tunnel from the gorge passing through the cliff 
and forming a passageway from the outer world 


THE LION^S CAVE 


into a large pocket or gulch entirely inclosed by 
steep walls of rock. Except for the small passage- 
way from the gorge, there was no other entrance 
to the gulch which was some hundred feet in length 
and about fifty in width and appeared to have been 
worn from the rocky cliff by the falling of water 
during long ages. A tiny stream from Kilimanjaro’s 
eternal snow cap still trickled over the edge of the 
rocky wall at the upper end of the gulch, forming 
a little pool at the bottom of the cliff from which 
a small rivulet wound downward to the tunnel 
through which it passed to the gorge beyond. A 
single great tree flourished near the center of the 
gulch, while tufts of wiry grass were scattered here 
and there among the rocks of the gravelly floor. 

The bones of many large animals lay about and 
among them were several human skulls. Tarzan 
raised his eyebrows. ‘‘A man-eater,” he murmured, 
“and from appearances he has held sway here for 
a long time. Tonight Tarzan will take the lair of 
the man-eater and Numa may roar and grumble 
upon the outside.” 

The ape-man had advanced well into the gulch as 
he investigated his surroundings and now as he stood 
near the tree, satisfied that the tunnel would prove 
a dry and quiet retreat for the night, he turned to 
retrace his way to the outer end of the entrance 
that he might block it with bowlders against Numa’s 
return ; but even with the thought there came some- 
ching to his sensitive ears that froze him into 
statuesque immobility with eyes glued upon the tun- 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


ne?s mouth. A moment later the head of a huge 
lion framed in a great black mane appeared in the 
opening. The yellow-green eyes glared, round and 
unblinking, straight at the trespassing Tarmangani, 
a low growl rumbled from the deep chest and lips 
curled back to expose the mighty fangs. 

^‘Brother of Dango!’^ shouted Tarzan, angered 
that Numa’s return should have been so timed as to 
frustrate his plans for a comfortable night’s repose. 

am PTarzan of the Apes, Lord of the Jungle. 
Tonight I lair here — go ! ” 

But Numa <did not go. Instead he rumbled forth 
a menacing roar and took a few steps in Tarzan’s 
direction. The ape-man picked up a rock and hurled 
it at the snarling face. One can never be sure of 
a lion. This one might turn tail and run at the 
first intimation of attack — Tarzan had bluffed 
many in his time — but not now. The missile struck 
Numa full upon the snout — a tender part of a cat’s 
anatomy* — and instead of causing him to flee it 
transformed him into an infuriated engine of wrath 
and destruction. 

Up went his tail, stiff and erect, and with a series 
of frightful roars he bore down upon the Tarman- 
gani at the speed of an express train. Not an 
instant too soon did Tarzan reach the tree and 
swing himself into its branches and there he squatted, 
hurling insults at the king of beasts while Numa 
paced a circle beneath him, growling and roaring 
in rage. 

It Was raining now in earnest adding to the ape- 


THE LION^S CAVE 


25 


man’s discomfort and disappointment. He was very 
angry ; but as only direct necessity had ever led him 
to close in mortal combat with a lion, knowing as 
he did that he had only luck and agility to pit 
against the frightful odds of muscle, weight, fangs, 
and talons, he did not now even consider descending 
and engaging in so unequal and useless a duel for 
the mere reward of a little added creature comfort. 
'And so he sat perched in the tree while the rain fell 
steadily and the lion padded round and round be- 
neath casting a baleful eye upward after every few 
steps. 

Tarzan scanned the precipitous walls for an 
avenue of escape. They would have baffled an ordi- 
nary man; but the ape-man, accustomed to climbing, 
saw several places where he might gain a foothold, 
precarious possibly; but enough to give him rea- 
sonable assurance of escape if Numa would but be- 
take himself to the far end of the gulch for a 
moment. Numa, however, notwithstanding the rain, 
gave no evidence of quitting his post so that at 
last Tarzan really began to consider seriously if it 
might not be as well to take the chance of a battle 
with him rather than remain longer cold and wet 
and humiliated in the tree. 

But even as he turned the matter over in his mind' 
Numa turned suddenly and walked majestically 
toward the tunnel without even a backward glance. 
The instant that he disappeared, Tarzan dropped 
lightly to the ground upon the far side of the tree 
and was away at top speed for the cliff. Th': Hot 


26 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


had no sooner entered the tunnel than he backed 
immediately out again and, pivoting like a flash, was 
off across the gulch in full charge after the flying 
ape-man; but Tarzan’s lead was too great — if he 
could find finger or foothold upon the sheer wall 
he would be safe; but should he slip from the wet 
rocks his doom was already sealed as he would fall 
directly into Numa’s clutches where even the great 
Tarmangani would be helpless. 

With the agility of a cat Tarzan ran up the cliff 
for thirty feet before he paused, and there finding 
a secure foothold, he stopped and looked down upon 
Numa who was leaping upward in a wild and futile 
attempt to scale the rocky wall to his prey. Fifteen 
or twenty feet from the ground the lion would 
scramble only to fall backward again defeated. 
Tarzan eyed him for a moment and then commenced 
a slow and cautious ascent toward the summit. 
Several times he had difficulty in finding holds but 
at last he drew himself over the edge, rose, picked 
up a bit of loose rock, hurled it at Numa and strode 
away. 

Finding an easy descent to the gorge he was about 
to pursue his journey in the direction of the still- 
booming guns when a sudden thought caused him to 
halt and a half-smile to play about his lips. Turn- 
ing he trotted quickly back to the outer opening of 
Numa’s tunnel. Close beside it he listened for a 
moment and then rapidly began to gather large 
rocks and pile them within the entrance. He had 
almost closed the aperture when the lion appeared 


THE LIOWS CAVE 


27 


upon the inside — a very ferocious and angry lion 
that pawed and clawed at the rocks and uttered 
mighty roars that caused the earth to tremble ; but 
roars did not frighten Tarzan of the Apes. At 
Kala’s shaggy breast he had closed his infant eyes 
in sleep upon countless nights in years gone by to 
the savage chorus of similar roars. Scarcely a day 
or night of his jungle life — and practically all his 
life had been spent in the jungle — that he had not 
heard the roaring of hungry lions, or angry lions, 
or love-sick lions. Such sounds affected Tarzan as 
the tooting of an automobile horn may effect you — 
if you are in front of the automobile it warns you 
out of the way, if you are not in front of it you 
scarcely notice it. Figuratively Tarzan was not in 
front of the automobile — Numa could not reach him 
and Tarzan knew it, so he continued deliberately 
to choke the entrance until there was no possibility 
of Numa’s getting out again. When he was quite 
through he made a grimace at the hidden lion be- 
yond the barrier and resumed his way toward the 
east. ‘‘A man-eater who will eat no more men,’^ 
he soliloquized. 

That night Tarzan lay up under an overhanging 
shelf of rock. The next morning he resumed his 
journey, stopping only long enough to make a kill 
and satisfy his hunger. The other beasts of the 
wild eat and lie up; but Tarzan never let his belly 
interfere with his plans. In this lay one of the 
greatest differences between the ape-man and his 
fellows of the jungles and the forests. The firing 


as 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


ahead rose and fell during the day. He had noticed 
that it was highest at dawn and immediately after 
dusk and that during the night it almost ceased. 
In the middle of the afternoon of the second day he 
came upon troops moving up toward the front. 
They appeared to be raiding parties for they drove 
goats and cows along with them and there were na- 
tive porters laden with grain and other foodstuffs. 
He saw that these natives were all secured by neck 
chains and he also saw that the troops were com^ 
posed of native soldiers in German uniforms. The 
officers were white men. No one saw Tarzan, yet 
he was here and there about and among them for 
two hours. He inspected the insignia upon their 
uniforms and saw that they were not the same as 
that which he had taken from one of the dead sol- 
diers at the bungalow and then he passed on ahead 
of them, unseen in the dense bush. He had come 
upon Germans and had not killed them; but it was 
because the killing of Germans at large was not yet 
the prime motive of his existence — now it was to 
discover the individual who slew his mate. After 
he had accounted for him he would take up the little 
matter of slaying all Germans who crossed his path, 
and he meant that many should cross it, for he would 
hunt them precisely as professional hunters hunt the 
man-eaters. 

As he neared the front lines the troops became 
more numerous. There were motor trucks and ox 
teams and all the impedimenta of a small army and 
always there were wounded men walking or beinr: 


THE LION^S CAVE 


29 


<;arried toward the rear. He had crossed the rail- 
road some distance back and judged that the 
wounded were being taken to it for transportation 
to a base hospital and possibly as far away as 
Tanga on the coast. 

It was dusk when he reached a large camp hidden 
in the foothills of the Pare Mountains. As he was 
approaching from the rear he found it but lightly 
guarded and what sentinels there were, were not upon 
the alert, and so it was an easy thing for him to 
enter after darkness had fallen and prowl about 
listening at the backs of tents, searching for some 
clew to the slayer of his mate. 

As he paused at the side of a tent before which 
sat a number of native soldiers he caught a few 
words spoken in native dialect that riveted his at- 
tention instantly: ‘‘The Waziri fought like devils; 
but we are greater fighters and we killed them all. 
When we were through the captain came and killed 
the woman. He stayed outside and yelled in a very 
loud voice until all the men were killed. Unter- 
lieutenant von Goss is braver — he came in and stood 
beside the door shouting at us, also in a very loud 
voice, and bade us nail one of the Waziri, who was 
wounded, to the wall and then he laughed loudly 
because the man suffered. We all laughed. It was 
very funny.’^ 

Like a beast of prey, grim and terrible, Tarzan 
crouched in the shadows beside the tent. What 
thoughts passed through that savage mind? Who 
may say? No outward sign of passion was revealed 


so 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


by the expression of the handsome face; the cold, 
gray eyes denoted only intense watchfulness. Pres- 
ently the soldier Tarzan had heard first rose and 
with a parting word turned away. He passed within 
ten feet of the ape-man and continued on toward 
the rear of the camp. Tarzan followed and in the 
shadows of a clump of bushes overtook his quarry. 
There was no sound as the man-beast sprang upon 
the back of his prey and bore it to the ground for 
steel fingers closed simultaneously upon the soldier’s 
throat, effectually stifling any outcry. By the neck 
Tarzan dragged his victim well into the concealment 
of the bushes. 

“Make no sound,” he cautioned in the man’s own 
tribal dialect as he released his hold upon the other’s 
throat. 

The fellow gasped for breath, rolling frightened 
eyes upward to see what manner of creature it might 
be in whose power he was. In the darkness he sa\^ 
only a naked brown body bending above him; but 
he still remembered the terrific strength of the 
mighty muscles that had closed upon his wind and 
dragged him into the bushes as though he had been 
but a little child. If any thought of resistance 
crossed his mind he must have discarded it at once 
as he made no move to escape. 

“What is the name of the officer who killed the 
woman at the bungalow where you fought with the 
Waziri.J^” asked Tarzan. 

“Hauptmann Schneider,” replied the black when 
he could again command his voice. 


THE LION^S CAVE 


31 


“Where is he?’^ demanded the ape-man. 

“ He is here. It may be that he is at headquarters. 
Many of the officers go there in the evening to 
receive orders.’^ 

“Lead me there,” commanded Tarzan, “and if I 
am discovered I will kill you immediately. Get up ! ” 

The black rose and led the way by a roundabout 
route back through the camp. Several times they 
were forced to hide while soldiers passed; but at 
last they reached a great pile of baled hay from 
about the comer of which the black pointed out a 
two-story building in the distance. 

“Headquarters,” he said. “You can go no far- 
ther unseen. There are many soldiers about.” 

Tarzan realized that he could not proceed farther 
in company with the black. He turned and looked 
at the fellow for a moment as though pondering 
what disposition to make of him. 

“You helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri,” 
he accused in a low yet none the less terrible tone. 

The black trembled, his knees giving beneath him. 
“He ordered us to do it,” he plead. 

“Who ordered it done?” demanded Tarzan. 

“ Unterlieutenant von Goss,” replied the soldier. 
“He, too, is here.” 

“I shall find him,” returned Tarzan, grimly. 
“You helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri, and 
while he suffered, you laughed.” 

The fellow reeled. It was as though in the accu- 
sation he read also his death sentence. With no 
other word Tarzan seized the man again by the 


S2 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


neck. As before there was no outcry. The giant 
muscles tensed. The arms swung quickly upward 
and with them the body of the black soldier who 
had helped to crucify Wasimbu, the Waziri, de- 
scribed a circle in the air — once, twice, three times 
and then it was flung aside and the ape-man turned 
in the direction of General Kraut’s headquarters. 

A single sentinel in rear of the building barred 
the way. Tarzan crawled, belly to the ground, 
toward him, taking advantage of cover as only the 
jungle-bred beast of prey can do. When the sen- 
tinel’s eyes were toward him Tarzan hugged the 
ground, motionless as stone, when they were turned 
away he moved swiftly forward. Presently he was 
within charging distance. He waited until the man 
had turned his back once more and then he rose and 
sped noiselessly down upon him. Again there was 
no sound as he carried the dead body with him 
toward the building. 

The lower floor was lighted, the upper dark. 
Through the windows Tarzan saw a large front 
room and a smaller room in rear of it. In the 
former were many officers. Some moved about talk- 
ing to one another, others sat at fleld tables writing. 
The windows were open and Tarzan could hear much 
of the conversation ; but nothing that interested him. 
It was mostly about the German successes in Africa 
and conjectures as to when the German army in 
Europe would reach Paris. Some said the Kaiser 
was doubtless already there and there was a great 
deal of damning of Belgium. 


THE LION^S CAVE 


In the smaller back room a large, red-faced man 
sat behind a table. Some other officers were also 
sitting a little in rear of him, while two stood at 
attention before the general who was questioning 
them. As he talked the general toyed with an oil 
lamp that stood upon the table before him. Pres- 
ently there came a knock upon the door and an aide 
entered the room. He saluted and reported : 

Fraulein Kircher has arrived, sir.” 

“Bid her enter,” commanded the general, and 
then nodded to the two officers before him in sign 
of dismissal. 

The Fraulein, entering, passed them at the door. 
The officers in the little room rose and saluted, the 
Fraulein acknowledging the courtesy with a bow and 
a slight smile. She was a very pretty girl. Even 
the rough, soiled riding habit and the caked dust 
upon her face could not conceal the fact, and she 
was young. She could not have been over nineteen. 

She advanced to the table behind which the general 
stood and taking a folded paper from an inside 
pocket of her coat handed it to him. 

“Be seated Fraulein,” he said and another officer 
brought her a chair. No one spoke while the general 
read the contents of the paper. 

Tarzan appraised the various people in the room. 
He wondered if one might not be Hauptmann 
Schneider, for two of them were captains. The 
girl he judged to be of the intelligence department — 
a spy. Her beauty held no appeal for him — with- 
out a glimmer of compunction he could have wrung 


84 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


that fair, young neck. She was German and that 
was enough ; but he had other and more important 
work before him. He wanted Hauptmann Schneider. 

Finally the general looked up from the paper. 

“Good,” he said to the girl, and then to one of 
his aides, “Send for Major Schneider.” 

Major Schneider! Tarzan felt the short hairs 
at the back of his neck rise. Already they had pro- 
moted the beast who had murdered his mate — 
doubtless they had promoted him for that very 
crime. 

The aide left the room and the others fell into 
a general conversation from which it became ap- 
parent to Tarzan that the German East African 
forces greatly outnumbered the British and that the 
latter were suffering heavily. The ape-man stood 
so concealed in a clump of bushes that he could 
watch the interior of the room without being seen 
from within, while he was at the same time hidden 
from the view of anyone who might chance to pass 
along the post of the sentinel he had slain. Mo- 
mentarily he was expecting a patrol or a relief to 
appear and discover that the sentinel was missing 
when he knew an immediate and thorough search 
would be made. 

Impatiently he awaited the coming of the man he 
sought and at last he was rewarded by the reap- 
pearance of the aide who had been dispatched to 
fetch him accompanied by an officer of medium size 
with fierce, upstanding mustaches. The newcomer 
strode to the table, halted and saluted, reporting. 


THE LION^S CAVE 


35 


The general acknowledged the salute and turned 
toward the girl, 

“ Fraulein Kircher,’’ he said, “ allow me to present 
Major Schneider ” 

Tarzan waited to hear no more. Placing a palm 
upon the sill of the window he vaulted into the room 
into the midst of an astounded company of the 
Kaiser’s officers. With a stride he was at the table 
and with a sweep of his hand sent the lamp crashing 
into the fat belly of the general who, in his mad 
effort to escape cremation, fell over backward, chair 
and all, upon the floor. Two of the aides sprang 
for the ape-man who picked up the first and flung 
him in the face of the other. The girl had leaped 
from her chair and stood flattened against the wall. 
The other officers were calling aloud for the guard 
and for help. Tarzan’s purpose centered upon but 
a single individual and him he never lost sight of. 
Freed from attack for an instant he seized Major 
Schneider, threw him over his shoulder and was out 
of the window so quickly that the astonished as- 
semblage could scarce realize what had occurred. 

A single glance showed him that the sentinel’s post 
was still vacant and a moment later he and his bur- 
den were in the shadows of the hay dump. Major 
Schneider had made no outcry for the very excellent 
reason that his wind was shut off. Now Tarzan 
relaxed his grasp enough to permit the man to 
breathe. 

“ If you make a sound you will be choked again,” 
he said. 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Cautiously and after infinite patience Tarzan 
passed the final outpost. Forcing his captive to 
walk before him he pushed on toward the west imtil, 
late into the night, he recrossed the railway where 
he felt reasonably safe from discovery. The German 
had cursed and grumbled and threatened and asked 
questions ; but his only reply was another prod from 
Tarzan’s sharp war spear. The ape-man herded 
him along as he would have driven a liog with the 
difference that he would have had more respect and 
therefore more consideration for a hog. 

Until now Tarzan had given little thought to the 
details of revenge. Now he pondered what form the 
punishment should take. Of only one thing was he 
certain — it must end in death. Like all brave men 
and courageous beasts Tarzan had little natural in- 
clination to torture — none, in fact; but this case 
was unique in his experience. An inherent sense 
of justice called for an eye for an eye and his recent 
oath demanded even more. Yes, the creature must 
suffer even as he had caused Jane Clayton to suffer. 
Tarzan could not hope to make the man suffer as 
he had suffered, since physical pain may never ap- 
proach the exquisiteness of mental torture. 

All through the long night the ape-man goaded 
on the exhausted and now terrified Hun. The awful 
silence of his captor wrought upon the German’s 
nerves. If he would only speak! Again and again 
Schneider tried to force or coax a word from him; 
but always the result was the same — continued 
silence and a vicious and painful prod from th^ 


THE LION^S CAVE 


37 


spear point. Schneider was bleeding and sore. He 
was so exhausted that he staggered at every step, 
and often he fell only to be prodded to his feet 
again by that terrifying and remorseless spear. 

It was not until morning that Tarzan reached a 
decision and it came to him then like an inspiration 
from above. A slow smile touched his lips and he 
immediafely sought a place to lie up and rest — he 
wished lis prisoner to be fit now for what lay in 
store fo-.* him. Ahead was a stream which Tarzan 
had crossed the day before. He knew the ford for 
a drinking place and a likely spot to make an easy 
kill. Cautioning the German to utter silence with 
a gesture the two approached the stream quietly. 
Down the game trail Tarzan saw some deer about 
to leave the water. He shoved Schneider into the 
brush at one side and squatting next him waited. 
The German watched the silent giant with puzzled, 
frightened eyes. In the new dawn he, for the first 
time, was able to obtain a good look at his captor, 
and if he had been puzzled and frightened before 
those sensations were nothing to what he experienced 
now. 

Who and what could this almost naked, white 
savage be.'^ He had heard him speak but once — 
when he had cautioned him to silence — and then in 
excellent German and the well-modulated tones of 
culture. He watched him now as the fascinated toad 
watches the snake that is about to devour it. He 
saw the graceful limbs and symmetrical body mo- 
tionless as a marble statue as the creature crouched 


S8 TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


in the concealment of the leafy foliage. Not a 
muscle, not a nerve moved. He saw the deer coming 
slowly along the trail, down wind and unsuspecting. 
He saw a buck pass — an old buck — and then 
young and plump one came opposite the giant in 
ambush, and Schneider’s eyes went wide and a scream 
of terror almost broke from his lips as he saw the 
agile beast at his side spring straight for the throat 
t)f the young buck and heard from those human 
lips the hunting roar of a wild beast. Down went 
the buck and Tarzan and his captive had meat. The 
ape-man ate his raw, but he permitted the German 
to build a fire and cook his portion. 

The two lay up until late in the afternoon and 
then took up the journey once again — a journey 
that was so frightful to Schneider because of his 
ignorance of its destination that he at times groveled 
at Tarzan’s feet begging for an explanation and for 
mercy; but on and on in silence the ape-man went, 
prodding the failing Hun whenever the latter fal- 
tered. 

It was noon of the third day before they reached 
their destination. After a steep climb and a short 
walk they halted at the edge of a precipitous cliff 
and Schneider looked down into a narrow gulch 
where a single tree grew beside a tiny rivulet and 
sparse grass broke from a rock-strewn soil. Tarzan 
motioned him over the edge; but the German drew 
back in terror. The ape-man seized him and pushed 
him roughly toward the brink. “Descend,” he said; 
It was the second time he had spoken in three dayp 


THE LION’S CAVE 


39 


and perhaps his very silence, ominous in itself, had 
done more to arouse terror in the breast of the 
Boche than even the spear point, ever ready as it 
always was. 

Schneider looked fearfully over the edge; but was 
about to essay the attempt when Tarzan halted him. 
“ I am Lord Greystoke,” he said. “ It was my wife 
you murdered in the Waziri country. You will un- 
derstand now why I came for you. Descend.” 

The German fell upon his knees. “I did not 
murder your wife,” he cried. “Have mercy! I 
did not murder your wife. I do not know anything 
about ” 

“Descend!” snapped Tarzan, raising the point 
of his spear. He knew that the man lied and was 
not surprised that he did. A man who would murder 
for no cause would lie for less. Schneider still hesi- 
tated and plead. The ape-man jabbed him with the 
spear and Schneider slid fearfully over the top and 
began the perilous descent. Tarzan accompanied 
and assisted him over the worst places until at last 
they were within a few feet of the bottom. 

“Be quiet now,” cautioned the ape-man. He 
pointed at the entrance to what appeared to be a 
cave at the far end of the gulch. “There is a 
hungry lion in there. If you can reach that tree 
before he discovers you, you will have several days 
longer in which to enjoy life and then — when you 
are too weak to cling longer to the branches of the 
tree Numa, the man-eater, will feed again for the 
last time.” He pushed Schneider from his foothold 


40 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


to the ground below. “Now run,” he said. 

The German trembling in terror started for the 
tree. He had almost reached it when a horrid roar 
broke from the mouth of the cave and almost simul- 
taneously a gaunt, hunger-mad lion leaped into the 
daylight of the gulch. Schneider had but a few 
yards to cover; but the lion flew over the ground 
to circumvent him while Tarzan watched the race 
with a slight smile upon his lips. 

Schneider won by a slender margin, and as Tarzan 
scaled the cliif to the summit, he heard behind him 
mingled with the roaring of the baffled cat, the gib- 
bering of a human voice that was at the same time 
more bestial than the beast’s. 

Upon the brink of the cliff the ape-man turned 
and looked back into the gulch. High in the tree 
the German clung frantically to a branch across 
which his body lay. Beneath him was Numa^ — 
waiting. 

The ape-man raised his face to Kudu, the sun, 
and from his mighty chest rose the savage victory 
cry of the bull ape. 


CHAPTER m 


IN THE GERMAN LINES 

T ARZAN was not yet fully revenged. There 
were many millions of Germans yet alive— < 
enough to keep Tarzan pleasantly occupied the 
balance of his life and yet not enough, should he 
kill them all, to recompense him for the great loss he 
had suffered — 'nor could the death of all those mil- 
lion Germans bring back his loved one. 

While in the German camp in the Pare Mountains, 
which lie just east of the boundary line between Ger- 
man and British East Africa, Tarzan had overheard 
enough to suggest that the British were getting the 
worst of the fighting in Africa. At first he had 
given the matter but little thought since, after the 
death of his wife, the one strong tie that had held 
him to civilization, he had renounced all mankind, 
considering himself no longer man, but ajie. 

After accounting for Schneider as satisfactorily 
as lay within his power he circled Kilimanjaro and 
hunted in the foothills to the north of that mightiest 
of mountains as he had discovered that in the neigh- 
borhood of the armies there was no hunting at alL 
Some pleasure he derived through conjuring mental 
pictures from time to time of the German he had left 
41 


42 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


in the branches of the lone tree at the bottom of the 
high-walled gulch in which was penned the starving 
lion. He could imagine the man’s mental anguish as 
he became weakened from hunger and maddened by 
thirst, knowing that sooner or later he must slip 
exhausted to the ground where waited the gaunt 
man-eater. Tarzan wondered if Schneider would 
have the courage to descend to the little rivulet for 
water should Numa leave the gulch and enter the 
cave, and then he pictured the mad race for the tree 
again when the lion charged out to seize his prey as 
he was certain to do, since the clumsy German could 
not descend to the rivulet without making at least 
some slight noise that would attract Numa’s at- 
tention. 

But even this pleasure palled and more and more 
the ape-man found himself thinking of the English 
soldiers fighting against heavy odds and especially 
of the fact that it was Germans who were besting 
them. The thought made him lower his head and 
growl and it worried him not a little — a bit, per- 
haps, because he was finding it difficult to forget 
that he was an Englishman when he wanted only 
to be an ape. And at last the time came when he 
could not longer endure the thought of Germans 
killing Englishmen while he hunted in safety a bare 
march away. 

His decision made, he set out in the direction of 
the German camp, no well-defined plan formulated; 
but with the general idea that once near the field of 
operations he might find an opportunity to harass 


IN THE GERMAN LINES 


43 


the German command as he so well knew how to do. 
His way took him along the gorge close to the gulch 
in which he had left Schneider, and yielding to a 
natural curiosity, he scaled the cliffs and made his 
way to the edge of the gulch. The tree was empty, 
nor was there sign of Numa, the lion. Picking up 
a rock he hurled it into the gulch where it rolled 
to the very entrance to the cave. Instantly the lion 
appeared in the aperture; but such a different-look- 
ing lion from the great sleek brute that Tarzan had 
trapped there two weeks before. Now he was gaunt 
and emaciated, and when he walked he staggered. 

“Where is the German?” shouted Tarzan. “Was 
he good eating, or only a bag of bones when he 
slipped and fell from the tree?” 

Numa growled. “You look hungry Numa,” con- 
tinued the ape-man. “You must have been very 
hungry to eat all the grass from your lair and even 
the bark from the tree as far up as you can reach. 
Would you like another German?” and smiling he 
turned away. 

A few minutes later he came suddenly upon Bara, 
the deer, asleep beneath a tree, and as Tarzan was 
hungrj’^ he made a quick kill, and squatting beside 
his prey proceeded to eat his fill. As he was gnaw- 
ing the last morsel from a bone his quick ears caught 
the padding of stealthy feet behind him, and turning 
he confronted Dango, the hyena, sneaking upon him. 
With a growl the ape-man picked up a fallen branch 
and hurled it at the skulking brute. “Go away, 
eater of carrion ! ” he cried ; but Dango was hungry 


44 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


and being large and powerful he only snarled and 
circled slowly about as though watching for an. 
opportunity to charge. Tarzan of the Apes knew 
Dango even better than Dango knew himself. He 
knew that the brute, made savage by hunger, was 
mustering its courage for an attack, that it was 
probably accustomed to man and therefore more or 
less fearless of him and so he unslung his heavy spear 
and laid it ready at his side while he continued his 
meal, all the time keeping a watchful eye upon the 
hyena. 

He felt no fear, for long familiarity with the 
dangers of his wild world had so accustomed him to 
them that he took whatever came as a part of each 
day’s existence as you accept the homely though no 
less real dangers of the farm, the range, or the 
crowded metropolis. Being jungle bred he was 
ready to protect his kill from all comers within 
ordinary limitations of caution. Under favorable 
conditions Tarzan would face even Numa himself 
and, if forced to seek safety by flight, he could do 
so without any feeling of shame. There was no 
braver creature roamed those savage wilds and at the 
same time there was none more wise — the two 
factors that had permitted him to survive. 

Dango might have charged sooner but for the 
savage growls of the ape-man — growls which, com- 
ing from human lips, raised a question and a fear in 
the hyena’s heart. He had attacked women and 
children in the native fields and he had frightened 
their men about their fires at night; but he never 


IN THE GERMAN LINES 


45 


had seen a man-thing who made this sound that 
reminded him more of Numa angry than of a man 
afraid. 

When Tarzan had completed his repast he was 
about to rise and hurl a clean-picked bone at the 
beast before he went his way, leaving the remains of 
his kill to Dango; but a sudden thought stayed him 
and instead he picked up the carcass of the deer, 
threw it over his shoulder, and set off in the direc- 
tion of the gulch. For a few yards Dango followed, 
growling, and then realizing that he was being robbed 
of even a taste of the luscious flesh he cast discretion 
to the winds and charged. Instantly, as though 
Nature had given him eyes in the back of his head, 
Tarzan sensed the impending danger and drop- 
ping Bara to the ground turned with raised spear. 
Far back went the brown, right hand and then for- 
ward, lightning-like, backed by the power of giant 
muscles and the weight of his brawn and bone. The 
spear, released at the right instant, drove straight 
for Dango, caught him in the neck where it joined 
the shoulders and passed through the body. 

When he had withdrawn the shaft from the hyena 
Tarzan shouldered both carcasses and continued on 
toward the gulch. Below lay Numa beneath the 
shade of the lone tree and at the ape-man’s call he 
staggered slowly to his feet, yet weak as he was, 
he still growled savagely, even essaying a roar at 
the sight of his enemy. Tarzan let the two bodies 
slide over the rim of the cliff. “Eat, Numa!” he 
cried. “ It may be that I shall need you again.” ^e 


46 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


saw the lion, quickened to new life at the sight of 
food, spring upon the body of the deer and then he 
left him rending and tearing the flesh as he bolted 
great pieces into his empty maw. 

The following day Tarzan came within sight of 
the German lines. From a wooded spur of the hills 
he looked down upon the enemy’s left flank and 
beyond to the British lines. His position gave him 
a bird’s-eye view of the field of battle, and his keen 
eyesight picked out many details that would not 
have been apparent to a man whose every sense was 
not trained to the highest point of perfection as were 
the ape-man’s. He noted machine-gun emplacements 
cunningly hidden from the view of the British and 
listening posts placed well out in No Man’s Land. 

As his interested gaze moved hither and thither 
from one point of interest to another he heard from 
a point upon the hillside below him, above the roar 
of cannon and the crack of rifle fire, a single rifle | 
spit. Immediately his attention was centered upon j 
the spot where he knew a sniper must be hid. Pa- 
tiently he awaited the next shot that would tell him J 
more surely the exact location of the rifleman, and * 
when it came he moved down the steep hillside with I 
the stealth and quietness of a panther. Apparently 
he took no cognizance of where he stepped, yet ! 
never a loose stone was disturbed nor a twig broken j 
— it was as though his feet saw. ' 

Presently, as he passed through a clump of bushes, I 
he came to the edge of a low cliff and saw upon a \ 


IN THE GERMAN LINES 


47 


ledge some fifteen feet below him a German soldier 
prone behind an embankment of loose rock and leafy 
boughs that hid him from the view of the British 
lines. The man must have been an excellent shot 
for he was well back of the German lines, firing over 
the heads of his fellows. His high-powered rifle was 
equipped with telescope sights and he also carried 
binoculars which he was in the act of using as Tar- 
zan discovered him, either to note the effect of his 
last shot or to discover a new target. Tarzan let his 
eye move quickly toward that part of the British 
line the German seemed to be scanning, his keen 
sight revealing many excellent targets for a rifle 
placed so high above the trenches. 

The Hun, evidently satisfied with his observations, 
laid aside his binoculars and again took up his rifle, 
placed its butt in the hollow of his shoulder and 
took careful aim. At the same instant a brown 
body sprang outward from the cliff above him. There 
was no sound and it is doubtful that the German ever 
knew what manner of creature it was that alighted 
heavily upon his back, for at the instant of impact 
the sinewy fingers of the ape-man circled the hairy 
throat of the Boche. There was a moment of futile 
struggling followed by the sudden realization of 
dissolution — the sniper was dead. 

Lying behind the rampart of rocks and boughs, 
Tarzan looked down upon the scene below. Near at 
hand were the trenches of the Germans. He could 
see officers and men moving about in them and almost 
^ front of him a well-hidden machine gun was tra- 


48 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


versing No Man’s Land in an oblique direction, strik- 
ing the British at such an angle as to make it 
difficult for them to locate it. 

Tarzan watched, toying idly with the rifle of the 
dead German. Presently he fell to examining the 
mechanism of the piece. He glanced again toward 
the German trenches and changed the adjustment of 
the sights, then he placed the rifle to his shoulder 
and took aim. Tarzan was an excellent shot. With 
his civilized friends he had hunted big game with the 
weapons of civilization and though he never had 
killed except for food or in self-defense he had 
amused himself firing at inanimate targets thrown 
into the air and had perfected himself in the use 
of firearms without realizing that he had done so. 
Now indeed would he hunt big game. A slow smile 
touched his lips as his finger closed gradually upon 
the trigger. The rifle spoke and a German machine 
gunner collapsed behind his weapon. In three min- 
utes Tarzan picked off the crew of that gun. Then 
he potted a German officer emerging from a dug- 
out and the three men in the bay with him. Tarzan 
was careful to leave no one in the immediate vicinity 
to question how Germans could be shot in German 
trenches when they were entirely concealed from 
enemy view. 

Again adjusting his sights he took a long-range 
shot at a distant machine-gun crew to his right. 
With calm deliberation he wiped them out to a man. 
Two guns were silenced. He saw men running 
through the trenches and he picked off several of 


IN THE GERMAN LINES 


49 


them. By this time the Germans were aware that 
something was amiss — that an uncanny sniper had 
discovered a point of vantage from which this sector 
of the trenches was plainly visible to him. At first 
they sought to discover his location in No Man’s 
Land; but when an officer looking over the parapet 
through a periscope was struck full in the back of 
the head with a rifle bullet which passed through his 
skull and fell to the bottom of the trench they 
realized that it was beyond the parados rather than 
the parapet that they should search. 

One of the soldiers picked up the bullet that had 
killed his officer and then it was that real excitement 
prevailed in that particular bay, for the bullet was 
obviously of German make. Hugging the parados, 
messengers carried the word in both directions and 
presently periscopes were leveled above the parados 
and keen eyes were searching out the traitor. It did 
not take them long to locate the position of the hid- 
den sniper and then Tarzan saw a machine gun being 
trained upon him. Before it had gotten into action 
its crew lay dead about it; but there were other 
men to take their places, reluctantly perhaps; but 
driven on by their officers they were forced to it 
and at the same time two other machine guns were 
swung around toward the ape-man and put into 
operation. 

Realizing that the game was about up Tarzan with 
a farewell shot laid aside the rifle and melted into the 
hills behind him. For many minutes he could hear 
the sputter of machine-gun fire concentrated upon 


50 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


the spot he had just quit and smiled as he contem- 
plated the waste of German ammunition. 

“ They have paid heavily for Wasimbu, the 
Waziri, whom they crucified, and for his slain fel- 
lows,” he mused; “but for Jane they can never 
pay — no, not if I killed them all.” 

After dark that night he circled the flanks of both 
armies and passed through the British out-guards 
and into the British lines. No man saw him come. 
No man knew that he was there. 

Headquarters of the Second Rhodesians occupied 
a sheltered position far enough back of the lines 
to be comparatively safe from enemy observation. 
Even lights were permitted and Colonel Capell sat 
before a field table, on which was spread a military 
map, talking with several of his officers. A large 
tree spread above them, a lantern sputtered dimly 
upon the table, while a small fire burned upon the 
ground close at hand. The enemy had no planes and 
no other observers could have seen the lights from 
the German lines. 

The officers were discussing the advantage in num- 
bers possessed by the enemy and the inability of the 
British to more than hold their present position. 
They could not advance. Already they had sus- 
tained severe losses in every attack and had always 
been driven back by overwhelming numbers. There 
were hidden machine guns, too, that bothered the 
colonel considerably. It was evidenced by the fact 
that he often reverted to them during the conver- 
sation. 


IN THE GERMAN LINES 


51 


“Something silenced them for a while this after- 
noon,” said one of the younger officers. “I was 
observing at the time and I couldn’t make out what 
the fuss was about; but they seemed to be having a 
devil of a time in a section of trench on their left. 
At one time I could have sworn they were attacked 
in the rear — I reported it to you at the time, sir, 
you’ll recall — for the blighters were pepperin’ away 
at the side of that bluff behind them. I could see 
Iffie dirt fly. I don’t know what it could have been.” 

There was a slight rustling among the branches 
of the tree above them and simultaneously a lithe, 
brown body dropped in their midst. Hands moved 
quickly to the butts of pistols; but otherwise there 
was no movement among the officers. First they 
looked wonderingly at the almost naked white man 
standing there with the flrelight playing upon 
rounded muscles, took in the primitive attire and 
the equally primitive armament and then all eyes 
turned toward the colonel. 

“Who the devil are you, sir.?” snapped that 
officer. 

“ Tarzan of the Apes,” replied the newcomer. 

“Oh, Greystoke!” cried a major, and stepped 
forward with outstretched hand. 

“Preswick,” acknowledged Tarzan as he took the 
proffered hand. 

“I didn’t recognize you at flrst,” apologized the 
major. “The last time I saw you you were in Lon- 
don in evening dress. Quite a difference — ’pon my 
word, man, you’ll have to admit it.” 


52 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Tarzan smiled and turned toward the colonel. ‘‘ I 
overheard your conversation,” he said. ‘‘ I have just 
come from behind the German lines. Possibly I can 
help you.” 

The colonel looked questioningly toward Major 
Pres wick who quickly rose to the occasion and pre- 
sented the ape-man to his commanding officer and 
fellows. Briefly Tarzan told them what it was that 
brought him out alone in pursuit of the Germans. 

“And now you have come to join us.?^” asked the 
colonel. 

Tarzan shook his head. “Not regularly,” he 
replied. “I must fight in my own way; but I can 
help you. Wlienever I wish I can enter the German 
lines.” 

Capell smiled and shook his head. “IPs not so 
easy as jou think,” he said; “IVe lost two good 
officers in the last week trying tt^ — and they were 
experienced men; none bettgi* in the Intelligence 
Department.” 

“Is it more difficult than entering the British 
lines?” asked Tarzan. 

The colonel wets about to reply when a new: 
thought appeared to occur to him and he looked 
quizzically at the ape-man. “ Who brought you 
here?” he asked. “Who passed you through our 
out-guards ? ” 

“I have just come through the German lines and 
yours and passed through your camp,” he replied. 
“ Send word to ascertain if anyone saw me.” 

“But who accompanied you?” insisted Capell. 


IN THE GERMAN LINES 


‘‘I came alone,” replied Tarzan and then, draw- 
ing himself to his full height, “You men of civili- 
zation, when you come into the jungle, are as dead 
among the quick. Manu, the monkey, is a sage by 
comparison. I marvel that you exist at all — only 
your numbers, your weapons, and your power of 
reasoning save you. Had I a few hundred great 
apes with your reasoning power I could drive the 
Germans into the ocean as quickly as the remnant 
of them could reach the coast. Fortunate it is foi 
you that the dumb brutes cannot combine. Could 
they, Africa would remain forever free of men. But 
come, can I help you.'* Would you like to know 
where several machine-gun emplacements are hid- 
den ? ” 

The colonel assured him that they would, and a 
moment later Tarzan had traced upon the map the 
location of three that had been bothering the 
English. “There is a weak spot here,” he said, 
placing a finger upon the map. “It is held by 
blacks; but the machine guns out in front are 
manned by whites. If — wait! I have a plan. You 
can fill that trench with your own men and enfilade 
the trenches to its right with their own machine 
guns.” 

Colonel Capell smiled and shook his head. “It 
sounds very easy,” he said. 

“ It is easy — for me,” replied the ape-man, “ I 
can empty that section of trench without a shot. I 
was rais'xi in the jungle — I know the jungle folk 
— the Gomangani as well as the others. Look for 


54! 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


me again on the second night,” and he turned to 
leave. 

“Wait,” said the colonel. “I will send an officer 
to pass you through the lines.” 

Tarzan smiled and moved away. As he was leav- 
ing the little group about headquarters he passed a 
small figure wrapped in an officer’s heavy overcoat. 
The collar was turned up and the visor of the mili- 
tary cap pulled well down over the eyes ; but, as the 
ape-man passed, the light from the fire illuminated 
the features of the newcomer for an instant, reveal- 
ing to Tarzan a vaguely familiar face. Some officer 
he had known in London, doubtless, he surmised, and 
went his way through the British camp and the 
British lines all unknown to the watchful sentinels 
of the out-guard. 

Nearly all night he moved across Kilimanjaro’s 
foothills, tracking by instinct an unknown way, for 
he guessed that what he sought would be found on 
some wooded slope higher up than he had come upon 
his other recent journeys in this, to him, little known 
country. Three hours before dawn his keen nostrils 
apprised him that somewhere in the vicinity he would 
find what he wanted and so he climbed into a tall 
tree and settled himself for a few hours sleep. 


CHAPTER IV 


WHEN THE LION FED 

K udu, the sun, was well up in the heavens when 
Tarzan awoke. The ape-man stretched his 
giant limbs, ran his fingers through his thick hair, 
and swung lightly down to earth. Immediately he 
took up the trail he had come in search of, follow- 
ing it by scent down into a deep ravine. Cautiously 
he went now, for his nose told him that the quarry 
was close at hand and presently from an overhanging 
bough he looked down upon Horta, the boar, and 
many of his kinsmen. Unslinging his bow and select- 
ing an arrow Tarzan fitted the shaft and, drawing 
it far back, took careful aim at the largest of the 
great pigs. In the ape-man’s teeth were other 
arrows, and no sooner had the first one sped, than 
he had fitted and shot another bolt. Instantly the 
pigs were in turmoil not knowing from whence the 
danger threatened. They stood stupidly at first and 
then commenced milling around until six of their 
number lay dead or dying about them, then with a 
chorus of grunts and squeals they started off at a 
wild run, disappearing quickly in the dense under- 
brush. 

Tarzan then descended from the tree, dispatched 
55 


56 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


those that were not already dead and proceeded 
to skin the carcasses. As he worked, rapidly and 
with great skill, he neither hummed nor whistled 
as does the average man of civilization. It was in 
numerous little ways such as these that he differed 
from other men, due, probably, to his early jungle 
training. The beasts of the jungle that he had been 
reared among were playful to maturity and seldom 
thereafter. His fellow-apes, especially the bulls, 
became fierce and surly as they grew older. Life 
was a serious matter during lean seasons — one had 
to fight to secure one’s share of food then and the 
habit once formed became lifelong. Hunting for 
food was the life labor of the jungle bred, and a life 
labor is a thing not to be approached with levity 
nor prosecuted lightly. So all work found Tarzan 
serious, though he still retained what the other 
beasts lost as they grew older — a sense of humor, 
which he gave play to when the mood suited him. 
It was a grim humor and sometimes ghastly; but it 
satisfied Tarzan. 

Then, too, were one to sing and whistle while 
working on the ground, concentration would be 
impossible. Tarzan possessed the ability to concen- 
trate each of his five senses upon its particular busi- 
ness. Now he worked at skinning the six pigs and his 
eyes and his fingers worked as though there was 
naught else in all the world than these six carcasses, 5 
but his ears and his nose were as busily engaged else- 
where — the former ranging the forest all about and 
the latter assaying each passing zephyr. It was 


WHEN THE LION FED 


57 


his nose that first discovered the approach of Sabor, 
the lioness, when the wind shifted for a moment. 

As clearly as though he had seen her with his eyes, 
Tarzan knew that the lioness had caught the scent 
of the freshly killed pigs and immediately had moved 
down wind in their direction. He knew from the 
strength of the scent spoor and the rate of the 
wind about how far away she was and that she was 
approaching from behind him. He was finishing the 
last pig and he did not hurry. The five pelts lay close 
at hand — he had been careful to keep them thus 
together and near him — an ample tree waved its 
low branches above him. 

He did not even turn his head for he knew she was 
not yet in sight ; but he bent his ears just a bit more 
sharply for the first sound of her nearer approach. 
When the final skin had been removed he rose. Now 
he heard Sabor in the bushes to his rear; but yet 
not too close. Leisurely he gathered up the six 
pelts and one of the carcasses and as the lioness 
appeared between the boles of two trees he swung 
upward into the branches above him. Here he hung 
the hides over a limb, seated himself comfortably 
upon another with his back against the bole of the 
tree, cut a hind quarter from the carcass he had car- 
ried with him and proceeded to satisfy his hunger. 
Sabor slunk, growling, from the brush, cast a wary 
eye upward toward the ape-man and then fell upon 
the nearest carcass. 

Tarzan looked down upon her and grinned, recall- 
ing an argument he had once had with a famous big- 


58 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


game hunter who declared that the king of beasts ate 
only what he himself had killed. Tarzan knew bet- 
ter for he had seen Numa and Sabor stoop even to 
carrion. 

Having filled his belly, the ape-man fell to work 
upon the hides — all large and strong. First he cut 
strips from them about half an inch wide. When 
he had a sufficient number of these strips he sewed 
two of the hides together, afterwards piercing holes 
every three or four inches around the edges. Run- 
ning another strip through these holes gave him a 
large bag with a draw string. In similar fashion he 
produced four other like bags, but smaller, from the 
four remaining hides and had several strips left 
over. 

All this done he threw a large, juicy fruit at 
Sabor, cached the remainder of the pig in a crotch 
of the tree and swung off toward the southwest 
through the middle terraces of the forest, carrying 
his five bags with him. Straight he went to the rim 
of the gulch where he had imprisoned Numa, the 
lion. Very stealthily he approached the edge and 
peared over. Numa was not in sight. Tarzan sniffed 
and listened. He could hear nothing, yet he knew 
that Numa must be within the cave. He hoped that 
he slept — much depended upon Numa not discover- 
ing him. 

Cautiously he lowered himself over the edge of the 
cliff, and with utter noiselessness commenced the 
descent toward the bottom of the gulch. He stopped 
often and turned his keen eyes and ears in the direc* 


WHEN THE LION FED 


59 


tion of the cave’s mouth at the far end of the gulch, 
some hundred feet away. As he neared the foot of 
the cliff his danger increased greatly. If he could 
reach the bottom and cover half the distance to the 
tree that stood in the center of the gulch he would 
feel comparatively safe for then, even if Numa 
appeared, he felt that he could beat him either to the 
cliff or to the tree, and to scale the first thirty feet 
of the cliff rapidly enough to elude the leaping beast 
would require a running start of at least twenty 
feet as there were no very good hand- or footholds 
close to the bottom — he had had to run up the first 
twenty feet like a squirrel running up a tree that 
other time he had beaten an infuriated Numa to it. 
He had no desire to attempt it again unless the con- 
ditions were equally favorable at least, for he had 
escaped Numa’s raking talons by only a matter of 
inches on the former occasion. 

At last he stood upon the floor of the gulch. 
Silent as a disembodied spirit he advanced toward 
the tree. He was half way there and no sign of 
Numa. He reached the scarred bole from which the 
famished lion had devoured the bark and even tom 
pieces of the wood itself and yet Numa had not ap- 
peared. As he drew himself up to the lower branches 
he commenced to wonder if Numa were in the cave 
after all. Could it be possible that he had forced 
the barrier of rocks with which Tarzan had plugged 
the other end of the passage where it opened into 
the outer world of freedom.? Or was Numa dead? 
The ape-man doubted the verity of the latter suis- 


60 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


gestion as he had fed the lion the entire carcasses 
of a deer and a hyena only a few days since — he 
could not have starved in so short a time, while the 
little rivulet running across the gulch furnished 
him with water a-plenty, 

Tarzan started to descend and investigate the 
cavern when it occurred to him that it would save 
effort were he to lure Numa out instead. Acting 
upon the thought he uttered a low growl. Imme- 
diately he was rewarded by the sound of movement 
within the cave and an instant later a wild-eyed, 
haggard lion rushed forth ready to face the devil 
himself were he edible. When Numa saw Tarzan, 
fat and sleek, perched in the tree he became suddenly 
the embodiment of frightful rage. His eyes and his 
nose told him that this was the creature responsible 
for his predicament and also that this creature was 
good to eat. Frantically the lion sought to scramble 
up the bole of the tree. Twice he leaped high enough 
to catch the lowest branches with his paws ; but both 
times he fell backward to the earth. Each time he 
became more furious. His growls and roars were 
incessant and horrible and all the time Tarzan sat 
grinning down upon him, taunting him in jungle 
Billingsgate for his inability to reach him and men- 
tally exulting that always Numa was wasting his 
already waning strength. 

Finally the ape-man rose and unslung his rope. 
He arranged the coils carefully in his left hand and 
the noose in his right, and then he took a position 
with each foot on one of two branches that lay in 


WHEN THE LION FED 


61 


about the same horizontal plane and with his back 
pressed firmly against the stem of the tree. There 
he stood hurling insults at Numa until the beast 
was again goaded into leaping upward at him, and 
as Numa rose the noose dropped quickly over his 
head and about his neck. A quick movement of 
Tarzan’s rope hand tightened the coil and when 
Numa slipped backward to the ground only his hind 
feet touched, for the ape-man held him swinging bj 
the neck. 

Moving slowly outward upon the two branches 
Tarzan swung Numa out so that he could not reach 
tke ibole of the tree with his raking talons, then he 
nJaJe the rope fast after drawing the lion clear of 
the ground, dropped his five pigskin sacks to earth 
and leaped down himself. Numa was striking fran- 
tically at the grass rope with his fore claws. At any 
moment he might sever it and Tarzan must, there- 
fore, work rapidly. 

First he drew the larger bag over Numa’s head 
and secured it about his neck with the draw string, 
then he managed, after considerable effort, during 
which he barely escaped being tom to ribbons by 
the mighty talons, to hog-tie Numa — drawing his 
four legs together and securing them in that posi- 
tion with the strips trimmed from the pigskins. 

By this time the lion’s efforts had almost ceased — 
it was evident that he was being rapidly strangled 
and as that did not at all suit the purpose of the 
Tarmangani the latter swung again into the tree^ 
unfastened the rope from above and lowered the lion 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 




to the ground where he immediately followed it and 
loosed the noose about Numa^s neck. Then he 
drew his hunting knife and cut two round holes in 
the front of the head bag opposite the lion’s eyes 
for the double purpose of permitting him to see and 
giving him sufficient air to breathe. 

This done Tarzan busied himself fitting the other 
bags, one over each of Numa’s formidably armed 
paws. Those on the hind feet he secured not only 
by tightening the draw strings but also rigged gar- 
ters that fastened tightly around the legs above the 
hocks. He secured the front-feet bags in place simi- 
larly above the great knees. Now, indeed, was 
Numa, the lion, reduced to the harmlessness of Bara, 
the deer. 

By now Numa was showing signs of returning 
life. He gasped for breath and struggled ; but the 
strips of pigskin that held his four legs together 
were numerous and tough. Tarzan watched and was 
sure that they would hold, yet Numa is mightily 
muscled and there was the chance, always, that he 
might struggle free of his bonds after which all 
would depend upon the efficacy of Tarzan’s bags and 
draw strings. 

After Numa had again breathed normally and was 
able to roar out his protests and his rage, his strug- 
gles increased to Titanic proportions for a short 
time ; but as a lion’s powers of endurance are in no 
way proportionate to his size and strength he soon 
tired and lay quietly. Amid renewed growling and 
another futile attempt to free himself, Numa was 


WHEN THE LION FED 


63 


finally forced to submit to the further indignity of 
having a rope secured about his neck; but this time 
it was no noose that might tighten and strangle him ; 
but a bowline knot, which does not tighten or slip 
under strain. 

The other end of the rope Tarzan fastened to the 
stem of the tree, then he quickly cut the bonds secur- 
ing Numa’s legs and leaped aside as the beast sprang 
to his feet. For a moment the lion stood with legs 
far outspread, then he raised first one paw and then 
another, shaking them energetically in an effort to 
dislodge the strange footgear that Tarzan had fas- 
tened upon them. Finally he began to paw at the 
bag upon his head. The ape-man, standing with 
ready spear, watched Ninna’s efforts intently. 
Would the bags hold? He sincerely hoped so. Or 
would all his labor prove fruitless? 

As the clinging things upon his feet and face 
resisted his every effort to dislodge them, Numa be- 
came frantic. He rolled upon the ground, fighting, 
biting, scratching, and roaring; he leaped to his feet 
and sprang into the air ; he charged Tarzan, only to 
be brought to a sudden stop as the rope securing him 
to the tree tautened. Then Tarzan stepped in and 
rapped him smartly on the head with the shaft of 
his spear. Numa reared upon his hind feet and 
struck at the ape-man and in return received a cuff 
on one ear that sent him reeling sideways. When he 
returned to the attack he was again sent sprawling. 
After the fourth effort it appeared to dawn upon 
the king of beasts that he had met his master, his 


64 < 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


head and tail dropped and when Tarzan advanced 
upon him he backed away, though still growling. 

Leaving Numa tied to the tree Tarzan entered the 
tunnel and removed the barricade from the opposite 
end, after which he returned to the gulch and strode 
straight for the tree. Numa lay in his path and as 
Tarzan approached growled menacingly. The ape- 
man cuffed him aside and unfastened the rope from 
the tree. Then ensued a half-hour of stubbornly 
fought battle while Tarzan endeavored to drive 
Numa through the tunnel ahead of him and Numa 
persistently refused to be driven. At last, however, 
by dint of the unrestricted use of his spear point, 
the ape-man succeeded in forcing the lion to move 
ahead of him and eventually guided him into the 
passageway. Once inside, the problem became 
simpler since Tarzan followed closely in the rear 
with his sharp spear point, an unremitting incentive 
to forward movement on the part of the lion. If 
Numa hesitated he was prodded. If he backed up 
the result was extremely painful and so, being a wise 
lion who was learning rapidly, he decided to keep on 
going and at the end of the tunnel, emerging into 
the outer world, he sensed freedom, raised his head 
and tail and started off at a run. 

Tarzan, still on his hands and knees just inside 
the entrance, was taken unaware with the result that 
he was sprawled forward upon his face and dragged 
a hundred yards across the rocky ground before 
Numa was brought to a stand. It was a scratched 
and angry Tarzan who scrambled to his feet. At 


WHEN THE LION FED 


65 


first he was tempted to chastise Numa; but as the 
ape-man seldom permitted his temper to guide him 
in any direction not coimtenanced by reason, he 
quickly abandoned the idea. 

Having taught Numa the rudiments of being 
driven, he now urged him forward and there com- 
menced as strange a journey as the unrecorded his- 
tory of the jungle contains. The balance of that 
day was eventful both for Tarzan and for Numa. 
From open rebellion at first the lion passed through 
stages of stubborn resistance and grudging obedience 
to final surrender. He was a very tired, hungry, and 
thirsty lion when night overtook them,; but there 
was to be no food for him that day or the next — 
Tarzan did not dare risk removing the head bag, 
though he did cut another hole which permitted 
Numa to quench his thirst shortly after dark. Then 
he tied him to a tree, sought food for himself, and 
stretched out among the branches above his captive 
for a few hours’ sleep. 

Early the following morning they resumed their 
journey, winding over the low foothills south of 
Kilimanjaro, toward the east. The beasts of the 
jungle who saw them took one look and fled. The 
scent spoor of Numa, alone, might have been enough 
to have provoked flight in many of the lesser animals 
but the sight of this strange apparition that smelled 
like a lion, but looked like nothing they ever had 
seen before, being led through the jungles by a giant 
Tarmangani was too much for even the more formi- 
dable denizens of the wild. 


66 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Sabor, the lioness, recognizing from a distance the 
scent of her lord and master intermingled with 
that of a Tarmangani and the hide of Horta, the 
boar, trotted through the aisles of the forest to in- 
vestigate. Tarzan and Numa heard her coming, for 
she voiced a plaintive and questioning whine as the 
baffling mixture of odors aroused her curiosity and 
her fears, for lions, however terrible they may appear, 
are often timid animals and Sabor being of the 
gentler sex was, naturally, habitually inquisitive as 
well. 

Tarzan unslung his spear for he knew that he 
might now easily have to fight to retain his prize. 
Numa halted and turned his outraged head in the 
direction of the coming she. He voiced a throaty 
growl that was almost a purr. Tarzan was upon the 
point of prodding him on again when Sabor broke 
into view, and behind her the ape-man saw that which 
gave him instant pause — four full-grown lions trail- 
ing the lioness. 

To have goaded Numa then into active resistance 
might have brought the whole herd down upon him 
and so Tarzan waited to learn first what their at- 
titude would be. He had no idea of relinquishing 
his lion without a battle; but knowing lions as he 
did, he knew that there was no assurance as to just 
what the newcomers would do. 

The lioness was young and sleek, and the four 
males were in their prime — as handsome lions as he 
ever had seen. Three of the males were scantily 
maned but one, the foremost, carried a splendid, 


WHEN THE LION FED 


67 


black mane that rippled in the breeze as he trotted 
majestically forward. The lioness halted a hundred 
feet from Tarzan, while the lions came on past her 
and stopped a few feet nearer. Their ears were 
upstanding and their eyes filled with curiosity, Tar- 
zan could not even guess what they might do. The 
lion at his side faced them fully, standing silent now 
and watchful. 

Suddenly the lioness gave vent to another little 
whine, at which Tarzan’s lion voiced a terrific roar 
and leaped forward straight toward the beast of the 
black mane. The sight of this awesome creature 
with the strange face was too much for the lion 
toward which he leaped, dragging Tarzan after 
him, and with a growl the lion turned and fled, fol- 
lowed by his companions and the she. 

Numa attempted to follow them; but Tarzan 
held him in leash and when he turned upon him in 
rage, beat him unmercifully across the head with his 
spear. Shaking his head and growling, the lion at 
last moved off again in the direction they had been 
traveling ; but it was an hour before he ceased to sulk. 
He was very hungry — half famished in fact — and 
consequently of an ugly temper, yet so thoroughly 
subdued by Tarzan’s heroic methods of lion taming 
that he was presently pacing along at the ape-man’s 
side like some huge St. Bernard. 

It was dark when the two approached the British 
right after a slight delay farther back because of 
a German patrol it had been necessary to elude. 
A sho^: distance from the British line of out-guard 


68 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


sentinels Tarzan tied Numa to a tree and continued 
on alone. He evaded a sentinel, passed the out- 
guard and support and by devious ways came again 
to Colonel Capell’s headquarters where he appeared 
before the officers gathered there as a disembodied 
spirit materializing out of thin air. 

When they saw who it was that came thus unan- 
nounced they smiled and the colonel scratched his 
head in perplexity. 

“Someone should be shot for this,” he said. “I 
might just as well not establish an out-post if a 
man can filter through whenever he pleases.” 

Tarzan smiled. “ Do not blame them,” he said, 
“for I am not a man. I am a Tarmangani. Any 
Mangani who wished to, could enter your camp 
almost at will; but if you had them for sentinels no 
one could enter without their knowledge.” 

“What are the Mangani?” asked the colonel. 
“Perhaps we might enlist a bunch of the beggars.” 

Tarzan shook his head. “They are the great 
apes,” he explained; “my people; but you could 
not use them. They cannot concentrate long enough 
upon a single idea. If I told them of this they would 
be much interested for a short time — I might even 
hold the interest of a few long enough to get them 
here and explain their duties to them; but soon they 
would lose interest and when you needed them most 
they might be off in the forest searching for beetles 
instead of watching their posts. They have the 
minds of little children — that is why they remain 
what they are.” 


WHEN THE LION FED 


69 


‘‘You call them Mangani and yourself Tarman- 
gani — what is the difference?” asked Major 
Pres wick. 

“Tar means white,” replied Tarzan, “and Man- 
gani, great ape. My name — the name they gave 
me in the tribe of Kerchak — means White-skin. 
When I was a little balu my skin, I presume, looked 
very white indeed against the beautiful, black coat 
of Kala, my foster mother and so they called me 
Tarzan, the Tarmangani. They call you, too, Tar- 
mangani,” he concluded, smiling. 

Capell smiled. “ It is no reproach, Greystoke,” he 
gaid ; “ and, by Jove, it would be a mark of distinc- 
tion if a fellow could act the part. And now how 
about your plan? Do you still think you can 
empty the trench opposite our sector?” 

“Is it still held by Gomangani?” asked Tarzan. 

“What are Gomangani?” inquired the colonel. 
“ It is still held by native troops, if that is what you 
mean.” 

“ Yes,” replied the ape-man, “ the Gomangani are 
the great black apes — the Negroes.” 

“ What do you intend doing and what do you want 
us to do ? ” asked Capell. 

Tarzan approached the table and placed a finger 
on the map. “Here is a listening post,” he said; 
“they have a machine gun in it. A tunnel connects 
it with this trench at this point,” his finger moved 
from place to place on the map as he talked. “ Give 
me a bomb and when you hear it burst in this listen- 
ing post let your men start across No Man’s Land 


70 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


slowly. Presently they will hear a commotion in the 
enemy trench ; but they need not hurry and whatever 
they do, have them come quietly. You might also 
warn them that I may be in the trench and that I 
do not care to be shot or bayoneted.” 

“And that is all,” queried Capell, after directing 
an officer to give Tarzan a hand grenade ; “ you will 
empty the trench alone.?” 

“ Not exactly alone,” replied Tarzan with a grim 
smile ; “ but I shall empty it, and, by the way, your 
men may come in through the tunnel from the listen- 
ing post if you prefer. In about half an hour, 
Colonel,” and he turned and left them. 

As he passed through the camp there flashed 
suddenly upon the screen of recollection, conjured 
there by some reminder of his previous visit to 
headquarters, doubtless, the image of the officer he 
had passed as he quit the colonel that other time 
and simultaneously recognition of the face that had 
been revealed by the light from the fire. He shook 
his head dubiously. No, it could not be and yet the 
features of the young officer were identical with those 
of Fraulein Kircher, the German spy he had seen at 
German headquarters the night he took Major 
Schneider from under the nose of the Hun general 
and his staff. 

Beyond the last line of sentinels Tarzan moved 
quickly in the direction of Numa, the lion. The 
beast was lying down as Tarzan approached, but 
he rose as the ape-man reached his side. A low 
whine escaped his muzzled lips. Tarzan smiled for 


WHEN THE LION FED 


71 


he recognized in the new note almost a supplica- 
tion — it was more like the whine of a hungry dog 
begging for food than the voice of the proud king 
of beasts. 

‘‘ Soon you will kill — and feed,” he murmured 
in the vernacular of the great apes. 

He unfastened the rope from about the tree and, 
with Numa close at his side, slunk into No Man’s 
Land. There was little rifle Are and only an occa- 
sional shell vouched for the presence of artillery be- 
hind the opposing lines. As the shells from both 
sides were falling well back of the trenches they 
constituted no menace to Tarzan; but the noise of 
them and that of the rifle fire had a marked effect 
upon Numa who crouched, trembling, close to the 
Tarmangani as though seeking protection. 

Cautiously the two beasts moved forward toward 
the listening post of the German’s. In one hand 
Tarzan carried the bomb the English had given him, 
in the other was the coiled rope attached to the lion. 
At last Tarzan could see the position a few yards 
ahead. His keen eyes picked out the head and 
shoulders of the sentinel on watch. The ape-man 
grasped the bomb firmly in his right hand. He 
measured the distance with his eye and gathered his 
feet beneath him, then in a single motion he rose and 
threw the missile, immediately flattening! himself 
prone upon the ground. 

Five seconds later there was a terrific explosion 
in the center of the listening post. Numa gave a 
nervous start and attempted to break away ; but 


72 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Tarzaii held him and leaping to his feet ran forward 
dragging Numa after him. At the edge of the post 
he saw below him but slight evidence that the position 
had been occupied at all, for only a f ^ shreds of 
tom flesh remained. About the only thing that had 
not been demolished was a machine gun which had 
been protected by sand bags. 

There was not an instant to lose. Already a relief 
might be crawling through the communication tun- 
nel, for it must have been evident to the sentinels 
in the Hun trenches that the listening post had 
been demolished. Numa hesitated to follow Tarzan 
into the excavation ; but the ape-man, who was in no 
mood to temporize, jerked him roughly to the bot- 
tom. Before them lay the mouth of the tunnel that 
led back from No Man’s Land to the German 
trenches. Tarzan pushed Numa forward until his 
head was almost in the aperture, then as though it 
was an afterthought he turned quickly and taking 
the machine gun from the parapet placed it in the 
bottom of the hole close at hand, after which he 
turned again to Numa, and with his knife quickly 
cut the garters that held the bags upon his front 
paws. Before the lion could know that a part of 
his formidable armament was again released for 
action, Tarzan had cut the rope from his neck and 
the head bag from his face, and grabbing the lion 
from the rear had thrust him partially into the 
mouth of the tunnel. 

Then Numa balked, only to feel the sharp prick of 
Tarzan’s knife point in his hind quarters. Goading 


WHEN THE LION FED 


T3 


him on the ape-man finally succeeded in getting the 
lion sufficiently far into the tunnel so that there 
was no chance of his escaping other than by going 
forward or deliberately backing into the sharp blade 
at his rear. Then Tarzan cut the bags from the 
great hind feet, placed his shoulder and his knife 
point against Numa’s seat, dug his toes into the 
loose earth that had been broken up by the explo- 
sion of the bomb, and shoved. 

Inch by inch at first Numa advanced. He was 
growling now and presently he commenced to roar. 
Suddenly he leaped forward and Tarzan knew that 
he had caught the scent of meat ahead. Dragging 
the machine gun beside him the ape-man followed 
quickly after the lion whose roars he could plainly 
hear ahead mingled with the unmistakable screams 
of frightened men. Once again a grim smile touched 
the lips of this man-beast. 

‘‘They murdered my Waziri,’^ he muttered; 
*‘they crucified Wasimbu, son of Muviro.’^ 

When Tarzan reached the trench and emerged 
into it there was no one in sight in that particular 
hay, nor in the next, nor the next as he hurried for- 
ward in the direction of the German center; but in 
the fourth bay he saw a dozen men jammed in the 
angle of the traverse at the end while leaping upon 
them and rending with talons and fangs was Numa, 
a terrific incarnation of ferocity and ravenous 
hunger. 

Whatever held the men at last gave way as they 
fought madly with one another in their efforts to 


74 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


escape this dread creature that from their infancy 
had filled them with terror, and again they were re- 
treating. Some clambered over the parados and 
some even over the parapet, preferring the dangers 
of No Man’s Land to this other soul-searing menace. 

As the British advanced slowly toward the Ger- 
man trenches, they first met terrified blacks who ran 
into their arms only too willing to surrender. That 
pandemonium had broken loose in the Hun trench 
was apparent to the Rhodesians not only from the 
appearance of the deserters; but from the sounds 
of screaming, cursing men which came clearly to 
their ears ; but there was one that baffled them for it 
resembled nothing more closely than the infuriated 
growling of an angry lion. 

And when at last they reached the trench, those 
farthest on the left of the advancing Britishers 
heard a machine gun sputter suddenly before them 
and saw a huge lion leap over the German parados 
with the body of a screaming Hun soldier between 
his jaws and vanish into the shadows of the night, 
while squatting upon a traverse to their left was 
Tarzan of the Apes with a machine gun before him 
with which he was raking the length of the German 
trenches. 

The foremost Rhodesians saw something else — » 
they saw a huge German officer emerge from a dug- 
out just in rear of the ape-man. They saw him 
snatch up a discarded rifle with bayonet fixed and 
creep upon the apparently unconscious Taraan. 
They ran forward, shouting warnings; but above 


WHEN THE LION FED 


75 


the pandemonium of the trenches and the machine 
gun their voices could not reach him. The German 
leaped upon the parapet behind him — the fat hands 
raised the ride butt aloft for the cowardly downward 
thrust into the naked back and then, as moves Ara, 
the lightning, moved Tarzan of the Apes. 

It was no man who leaped forward upon that 
Boche officer, striking aside the sharp bayonet as 
one might strike aside a straw in a baby’s hand — > 
it was a wild beast and the roar of a wild beast 
was upon those savage lips, for as that strange sense 
that Tarzan owned in common with the other jungle- 
bred creatures of his wild domain warned him of the 
presence behind him and he had whirled to meet 
the attack, his eyes had seen the corps and regi- 
mental insignia upon the other’s blouse — it was the 
same as that worn by the murderers of his wife and 
his people, by the despoilers of his home and his 
happiness. 

It was a wild beast whose teeth fastened upon the 
shoulder of the Hun — it was a wild beast whose 
talons sought that fat neck. And then the boys of 
the Second Rhodesian Regiment saw that which will 
live forever in their memories. They saw the giant 
ape-man pick the heavy German from the ground 
and shake him as a terrier might shake a rat^ — as 
Sabor, the lioness, sometimes shakes her prey. They 
saw the eyes of the Hun bulge in horror as he vainly 
struck with his futile hands against the massive 
chest and head of his assailant. They saw Tarzan 
suddenly spin the man about and placing a knee in 


76 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


the middle of his back and an arm about his neck 
bend his shoulders slowly backward. The German’s 
knees gave and he sank upon them; but still that 
irresistible force bent him further and further. He 
screamed in agony for a moment — then something 
snapped and Tarzan cast him aside, a limp and life- 
less thing. 

The Rhodesians started forward, a cheer upon 
their lips — a cheer that never was uttered — a cheer 
that froze in their throats, for at that moment Tar- 
*an placed a foot upon the carcass of his kill and, 
raising his face to the heavens, gave voice to the 
weird and terrifying victory cry of the bull ape. 

Unterlieutenant von Goss was dead. 

Without a backward glance at the awe-struck sol- 
diers Tarzan leaped the trench and was gone. 


CHAPTER V 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 

T eds little British army in East Africa after 
suffering severe reverses at the hands of a 
numerically much superior force was at last coming 
into its own. The German offensive had been broken 
and the Huns were now slowly and doggedly retreat- 
ing along the railway to Tanga. The break in the 
German lines had followed the clearing of a section 
of their left-flank trenches of native soldiers by 
Tarzan and Numa, the lion, upon that memorable 
night that the ape-man had loosed a famishing man- 
eater among the superstitious and terror-stricken 
blacks. The Second Rhodesian Regiment had imme- 
diately taken possession of the abandoned trench and 
from this position their flanking Are had raked con- 
tiguous sections of the German line, the diversion 
rendering possible a successful night attack on the 
part of the balance of the British forces. 

Weeks had elapsed. The Germans were contest- 
ing stubbornly every mile of waterless, thorn-cov- 
ered ground and clinging desperately to their posi- 
tions along the railway. The officers of the Second 
Rhodesians had seen nothing more of Tarzan of the 
Apes since he had slain Unterlieutenant von Goss 
77 


78 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


and disappeared toward the very heart of the Ger- 
man position, and there were those among them who 
believed that he had been killed within the enemy 
lines, 

“They may have killed him,” assented Colonel 
Capell ; “ but I fancy they never captured the beggar 
alive.” 

Nor had they, nor killed him either. Tarzan 
had spent those intervening weeks pleasantly and 
profitably. He had amassed a considerable fund of 
knowledge concerning the disposition and strength 
of German troops, their methods of warfare, and 
the various ways in which a lone Tarmangani might 
annoy an army and lower its morale. 

At present he was prompted by a specific desire. 
There was a certain German spy whom he wished to 
capture alive and take back to the British. When 
he had made his first visit to German headquarters 
he had seen a young woman deliver a paper to the 
German general and later he had seen that same 
young woman within the British lines in the uniform 
of a British officer. The conclusions were obvious — t 
she was a spy. 

And so Tarzan haunted German headquarters 
upon many nights hoping to see her again or to pick 
up some clew as to her whereabouts, and at the same 
time he utilized many an artifice whereby he might 
bring terror to the hearts of the Germans. That he 
was successful was often demonstrated by the 
snatches of conversation he overheard as he prowled 
through the German camps. One night as he lay 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 


79 


concealed in the bushes close beside a regimental 
headquarters he listened to the conversation of sev- 
eral Boche officers. One of the men reverted to the 
stories told by the native troops in connection with 
their rout by a lion several weeks before and the 
simultaneous appearance in their trenches of a 
naked, white giant whom they were perfectly assured 
was some demon of the jungle. 

‘‘The fellow must have been the same as he who 
leaped into the general’s headquarters and carried 
off Schneider,” asserted one. “I wonder how he 
happened to single out the poor major. They say 
the creature seemed interested in no one but 
Schneider. He had von Kelter in his grasp, and he 
might easily have taken the general himself ; but he 
ignored them aU except Schneider. Him he pursued 
about the room, seized and carried off into the night. 
Gott knows what his fate was.” 

“ Captain Fritz Schneider has some sort of the- 
ory,” said another. “ He told me only a week or two 
ago that he thinks he knows why his brother was 
taken — that it was a case of mistaken identity. He 
was not so sure about it until von Goss was killed, 
apparently by the same creature, the night the lion 
entered the trenches. Von Goss was attached to 
Schneider’s company. One of Schneider’s men was 
found with his neck wrung the same night that the 
major was carried off and Schneider thinks that this 
devil is after him and his command — that it came 
for him that night and got his brother by mistake. 
He says Kraut told him that in presenting the major 


80 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


to Fraulein Kircher the former’s name was no sooner 
spoken than this wild man leaped through the win- 
dow and made for him.” 

Suddenly the little group became rigid — ^listen- 
ing. ‘‘What was that?” snapped one, eyeing the 
bushes from which a smothered snarl had issued as 
Tarzan of the Apes realized that through his mis- 
take the perpetrator of the horrid crime at his bun- 
galow still lived — that the murderer of his wife went 
yet unpunished. 

For a long minute the officers stood with tensed 
nerves, every eye rivetted upon the bushes from 
whence the ominous sound had issued. Each recalled 
recent mysterious disappearances from the heart of 
camps as well as from lonely out-guards. Each 
thought of the silent dead he had seen, slain almost 
within sight of their fellows by some unseen creature. 
They thought of the marks upon dead throats — 
made by talons or by giant fingers, they could not 
tell which — and those upon shoulders and jugulars 
where powerful teeth had fastened and they waited 
with drawn pistols. 

Once the bushes moved almost imperceptibly and 
an instant later one of the officers, without warning, 
fired into them; but Tarzan of the Apes was not 
there. In the interval between the moving of the 
bushes and the firing of the shot he had melted into 
the night. Ten minutes later he was hovering on the 
outskirts of that part of camp where were biv- 
ouacked for the night the black soldiers of a native 
company commanded by one Hauptmann Fritz 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 


SI 


Schneider. The men were stretched upon the ground 
without tents ; but there were tents pitched for the 
officers. Toward these Tarzan crept. It was slow 
and perilous work, as the Germans were now upon 
the alert for the uncanny foe that crept into their 
camps to take his toll by night, yet the ape-man 
passed their sentinels, eluded the vigilance of the 
interior guard, and crept at last to the rear of the 
officers’ line. 

Here he flattened himself against the ground close 
behind the nearest tent and listened. From within 
came the regular breathing of a sleeping man — one 
only. Tarzan was satisfied. With his knife he cut 
the tie strings of the rear flap and entered. He 
made no noise. The shadow of a falling leaf, float- 
ing gently to earth upon a still day, could have 
been no more soundless. He moved to the side of 
the sleeping man and bent low over him. He could 
not know, of course, whether it was Schneider or 
another, as he had never seen Schneider; but he 
meant to know and to know even more. 

Gently he shook the man by the shoulder. The 
fellow turned heavily and grunted in a thick gut- 
tural. 

Silence ! ” admonished the ape-man in a low whis- 
per. Silence — I kill.” 

The Hun opened his eyes. In the dim light he saw 
a giant figure bending over him. Now a mighty 
hand grasped his shoulder and another closed lightly 
about his throat. 

“Make no outcry,” commanded Tarzan; “but 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 




answer in a whisper my questions. What is your 
name.?^” 

“Luberg,” replied the officer. He was trembling. 
The weird presence of this naked giant filled him 
with dread. He, too, recalled the men mysteriously 
murdered in the still watches of the night camps. 
“What do you want.?” 

“Where is Hauptmann Fritz Schneider.?” asked 
Tarzan, “Which is his tent?” 

“ He is not here,” replied Luberg. “ He was sent 
to Wilhelmstal yesterday.” 

“I shall not kill you — now,” said the ape-man. 
“First I shall go and learn if you have lied to me 
and if you have your death shall be the more ter- 
rible. Do you know how Major Schneider died?” 

Luberg shook his head negatively, 

“ I do,” continued Tarzan, “ and it was not a nice 
way to die — *even for an accuised German. Turn 
over with your face down and cover your eyes. Do 
not move or make any sound.” 

The man did as he was bid and the instant that 
his eyes were turned away, Tarzan slipped from the 
tent. An hour later he was outside the German 
camp and headed for the little hill town of Wil- 
helmstal, the summer seat of government of German 
East Africa. 

Fraulein Bertha Kircher was lost. She was 
humiliated and angry — it was long before she would 
admit it, that she, who prided herself upon her 
woodcraft, was lost in this little patch of country 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 


83 


between the Pangani and the Tanga railway. She 
knew that Wilhelmstal lay southeast of her about 
fifty miles ; but, through a combination of untoward 
circumstances, she found herself unable to determine 
which was southeast. 

In the first place she had set out from German 
headquarters on a well-marked road that was being 
traveled by troops and with every reason to believe 
that she would follow that road to Wilhelmstal. 
Later she had been warned from this road by word 
that a strong British patrol had come down the 
west bank of the Pangani, effected a crossing south 
of her, and was even then marching on the railway 
at Tonda. 

After leaving the road she found herself in thick 
bush and as the sky was heavily overcast she pres- 
ently had recourse to her compass and it was not 
until then that she discovered to her dismay that she 
did not have it with her. So sure was she of her 
woodcraft, however, that she continued on in the 
direction she thought west until she had covered suffi- 
cient distance to warrant her in feeling assured that 
by now turning south she could pass safely in rear 
of the British patrol. 

Nor did she commence to feel any doubts until 
long after she had again turned toward the east 
well south, as she thought, of the patrol. It was 
late afternoon — ‘she should long since have struck 
the road again south of Tonda; but she had found 
no road and now she began to feel real anxiety. 

Her horse had traveled all day without food or 


84 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


water, night was approaching and with it a realiza- 
tion that she was hopelessly lost in a wild and track- 
less country notorious principally for its tsetse flies 
and savage beasts. It was maddening to know that 
she had absolutely no knowledge of the direction she 
was traveling — that she might be forging steadily 
further from the railway, deeper into the gloomy 
and forbidding country toward the Pangani; yet 
it was impossible to stop — she must go on. 

Bertha Kircher was no coward, whatever else she 
may have been; but as night began to close down 
around her she could not shut out from her mind 
entirely contemplation of the terrors of the long 
hours ahead before the rising sun should dissipate 
the Stygian gloom ^ — the horrid jungle night — that 
lures forth all the prowling, preying creatures of 
destruction. 

She found, just before dark, an open meadow-like 
break in the almost interminable bush. There was 
a small clump of trees near the center and here she 
decided to camp. The grass was high and thick 
affording feed for her horse and a bed for herself 
and there was more than enough dead wood lying 
about the trees to furnish a good fire well through 
the night. Removing the saddle and bridle from her 
mount she placed them at the foot of a tree and then 
picketed the animal close by. Then she busied her- 
self collecting firewood and by the time darkness had 
fallen she had a good fire and enough wood to last 
until morning. 

From her saddlebags she took cold food and frona 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 


85 


her canteen a swallow of water. She could not afford 
more than a small swallow for she could not know 
how long a time it might be before she should find 
more. It filled her with sorrow that her poor horse 
must go waterless, for even German spies may have 
hearts and this one was very young and very 
feminine. 

It was now dark. There was neither moon nor 
'Stars and the light from her fire only accentuated 
the blackness beyond. She could see the grass about 
her and the boles of the trees which stood out in 
brilliant relief against the solid background of im- 
penetrable night, and beyond the firelight there was 
nothing. j 

The jungle seemed ominously quiet. Far away 
in the distance she heard faintly the boom of big 
guns; but she could not locate their direction. She 
strained her ears until her nerves were on the point 
of breaking ; but she could not tell from whence the 
sound came. And it meant so much to her to know, 
for the battle lines were north of her and if she 
* could but locate the direction of the firing she would 
know which way to go in the morning. 

In the morning! Would she live to see another 
morning? She squared her shoulders and shook her- 
self together. Such thoughts must be banished — 
they would never do. Bravely she hummed an air 
as she arranged her saddle near the fire and pulled 
a quantity of long grass to make a comfortable seat 
over which she spread her saddle blanket. Then 
she unstrapped a heavy, military coat from the 


86 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


cantle of her saddle and donned it, for the air was 
already chill. 

Seating herself where she could lean against the 
saddle she prepared to maintain a sleepless vigil 
throughout the night. For an hour the silence was 
broken only by the distant booming of the guns 
and the low noises of the feeding horse and then, 
from possibly a mile away, came the rumbling thun- 
der of a lion’s roar. The girl started and laid her 
hand upon the rifle at her side. A little shudder 
ran through her slight frame and she could feel the 
goose flesh rise upon her body. 

Again and again was the awful sound repeated 
and each time she was certain that it came nearer. 
She could locate the direction of this sound although 
she could not that of the guns, for the origin of the 
former was much closer. The lion was up wind and 
so could not have caught her scent as yet, though 
he might be approaching to investigate the light of 
the fire which could doubtless be seen for a con- 
siderable distance. 

For another fear-filled hour the girl sat straining 
her eyes and ears out into the black void beyond 
her little island of light. During all that time the 
lion did not roar again; but there was constantly 
the sensation that it was creeping upon her. Again 
and again she would start and turn to peer into the 
blackness beyond the trees behind her as her over- 
wrought nerves conjured the stealthy fall of padded 
feet. She held the rifle across her knees at the 
ready now and she was trembling from head to footc 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 


87 


Suddenly her horse raised his head and snorted, 
and with a little cry of terror the girl sprang to 
her feet. The animal turned and trotted back 
toward her until the picket rope brought him to a 
stand, and then he wheeled about and with ears 
up-pricked gazed out into the night; but the girl 
could neither see nor hear aught. 

Still another hour of terror passed during which 
the horse often raised his head to peer long and 
searchingly into the dark. The girl replenished the 
fire from time to time. She found herself becoming 
very sleepy. Her heavy lids persisted in drooping; 
but she dared not sleep. Fearful lest she might 
be overcome by the drowsiness that was stealing 
through her she rose and walked briskly to and fror 
then she threw some more wood on the fire, walked 
over and stroked her horse’s muzzle and returned to 
her seat. 

Leaning against the saddle she tried to occupy 
her mind with plans for the morrow; but she must 
have dozed. With a start she awoke. It was broad 
daylight. The hideous night with its indescribable 
terrors was gone. 

She could scarce believe the testimony of her 
senses. She had slept for hours, the fire was out 
and yet she and the horse were safe and alive, nor 
was there sign of savage beast about. And, best 
of all, the sun was shining, pointing the straight 
road to the east. Hastily she ate a few mouthfuls 
of her precious rations, which with a swallow of 
water constituted her breakfast. Then she saddled 


88 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


her horse and mounted. Already she felt that she 
was as good as safe in Wilhelmstal. 

Possibly, however, she might have revised her con- 
clusions could she have seen the two pairs of eyes 
watching her every move intently from different 
points in the bush. 

Light-hearted and unsuspecting the girl rode 
across the clearing toward the bush while directly 
before her two yellow-green eyes glared round and 
terrible, a tawny tail twitched nervously and great, 
padded paws gathered beneath a sleek barrel for a 
mighty spring. The horse was almost at the edge 
of the bush when Numa, the lion, launched himself 
through the air. He struck the animal’s right 
shoulder at the instant that it reared, terrified, to 
wheel in flight. The force of the impact hurled the 
horse backward to the ground and so quickly that 
the girl had no opportunity to extricate herself ; but 
fell to the earth with her mount, her left leg pinned 
beneath its body. 

Horror stricken, she saw the king of beasts open 
his mighty jaws and seize the screaming creature by 
the back of its neck. The great jaws closed, there 
was an instant’s struggle as Numa shook his prey. | 
She could hear the vertebrae crack as the mighty 

fangs crunched through them and then the muscles I 

of her faithful friend relaxed in death. j 

Numa crouched upon his kill. His terrifying eyes ( 
rivetted themselves upon the girl’s face — she could . 

feel his hot breath upon her cheek and the odor of | 

the fetid vapor nauseated her. For what seemed an 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 


89 


eternity to the girl the two lay staring at each other 
and then the lion uttered a menacing growl. 

Never before had Bertha Kircher been so terrified 
— never before had she had such cause for terror. 
At her hip was a pistol — a formidable weapon with 
which to face a man ; but a puny thing indeed with 
which to menace the great beast before her. She 
knew that at best it could but enrage him and yet 
she meant to sell her life dearly, for she felt that 
she must die. No human succor could have availed 
her even had it been there to offer itself. For a 
moment she tore her gaze from the hypnotic fasci- 
nation of that awful face and breathed a last prayer 
to her God. She did not ask for aid, for she felt 
that she was beyond even divine succor — she only 
asked that the end might come quickly and with 
as little pain as possible. 

No one can prophesy what a lion will do in any 
given emergency. This one glared and growled at 
the girl for a moment and then fell to feeding upon 
the dead horse. Fraulein Kircher wondered for an 
instant and then attempted to draw her leg cau- 
tiously from beneath the body of her mount; but 
she could not budge it. She increased the force of 
her efforts and Numa looked up from his feeding to 
growl again. The girl desisted. She hoped that 
he might satisfy his hunger and then depart to lie 
up; but she could not believe that he would leave 
her there alive. Doubtless he would drag the re- 
mains of his kill into the bush for hiding and, as 
there could be no doubt that he considered her part 


90 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


of his prey, he would certainly come back for her, 
or possibly drag her in first and kill her. 

Again Numa fell to feeding. The girl’s nerves 
were at the breaking point. She wondered that she 
had not fainted under the strain of terror and shock 
She recalled that she often had wished she migM 
see a lion, close to, make a kill, and feed upon it. 
God! how realistically her wish had been granted. 

Again she bethought herself of her pistol. As 
she had fallen the holster had slipped around so that 
the weapon now lay beneath her. Very slowly she 
reached for it; but in so doing she was forced to 
raise her body from the ground. Instantly the lioxi 
was aroused. With the swiftness of a cat he reached 
across the carcass of the horse and placed a heavy, 
taloned paw upon her breast, crushing her back to 
earth, and all the time he growled and snarled hor- 
ribly. His face was a picture of frightful rage 
incarnate. For a moment neither moved and then 
from behind her the girl heard a human voice ut- 
tering beastial sounds. 

Numa suddenly looked up from the girl’s face at 
the thing beyond her. His growls increased to roars 
as he drew back, ripping the front of the girl’s waist 
almost from her body with his long talons, exposing 
her white bosom, which through some miracle of 
chance the great claws did not touch. 

Tarzan of the Apes had witnessed the entire en- 
counter from the moment that Numa had leaped upon 
his prey. For some time before he had been watch- 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 


91 


ing the girl and after the lion attacked her he had 
at first been minded to let Numa have his way with 
her. What was she but a hated German and a spy 
besides? He had seen her at General Kraut’s head- 
quarters in conference with the German staff and 
again he had seen her within the British lines mas- 
querading as a British officer. It was the latter 
thought that prompted him to interfere. Doubtless 
General Jan Smuts would be glad to meet and ques- 
tion her. She might be forced to divulge informal 
tion of value to the British commander before Smuts 
had her shot. 

Tarzan had recognized not only the girl, but the 
lion as well. All lions may look alike to you and 
me; but not so to their intimates of the jungle. 
Each has his individual characteristics of face and 
form and gait as well defined as those that dif- 
ferentiate members of the human family, and be- 
sides these the creatures of the jungle have a stiU 
more positive test — that of scent. Each of us, man 
or beast, has his own peculiar odor, and it is mostly 
by this that the beasts of the jungle, endowed with 
miraculous powers of scent, recognize individuals. 

It is the final proof. You have seen it demon- 
strated a thousand times — a dog recognizes your 
voice and looks at you. He knows your face and 
figure. Good, there can be no doubt in his mind 
but that it is you; but is he satisfied? No, sir — he 
must come up and smell of you. All his other senses 
may be fallible; but not his sense of smell, and so 
he makes assurance positive by the final test. 


92 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Tarzan recognized Numa as he whom he had 
muzzled with the hide of Horta, the boar — as he 
whom he handled by a rope for two days and finally 
loosed in a German front-line trench, and he knew 
that Numa would recognize him — that he would 
remember the sharp spear that had goaded him into 
submission and obedience and Tarzan hoped that 
the lesson he had learned still remained with the 
lion. 

Now he came forward calling to Numa in the lan- 
guage of the great apes — warning him away from 
the girl. It is open to question that Numa, the lion, 
understood him; but he did understand the menace 
of the heavy spear that the Tarmangani carried so 
ready in his brown, right hand, and so he drew back, 
growling, trying to decide in his little brain whether 
to charge or flee. 

On came the ape-man with never a pause, straight 
for the lion. “Go away, Numa,” he cried, ^‘or 
Tarzan will tie you up again and lead you through 
the jungle without food. See Arad, my spear! Do 
you recall how his point stuck into you and how with ! 
his haft I beat you over the head.?^ Go, Numa! I 
am Tarzan of the Apes ! ” 

Numa wrinkled the skin of his face into great | 
folds, until his eyes almost disappeared and he ( 
growled and roared and snarled and growled again, 
and when the spear point came at last quite close ' 
to him he struck at it viciously with his armed paw ; 
but he drew back. Tarzan stepped over the dead 
horse and the girl lying behind him gazed in wide- I 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 


93 


eyed astonishment at the handsome figure driving an 
Singry Hon deliberately from its kill. 

When N^ima had retreated a few yards, the ape* 
man called back to the girl in perfect German, “Are 
you badly hurt?” 

“ I think not,” she replied ; “ but I cannot extrh 
cate my foot fro«ti beneath my horse.” 

“Try again,” commanded Tarzan. “I do not 
know how long I «*an hold Numa thus.” 

The girl struggled frantically; but at last she 
sank back upon an elbow. 

“It is impossible,” she called to him. 

He backed slowly until he was again beside the 
horse, when he reached down and grasped the cinch, 
which was still intact. Then with one hand he raised 
the carcass from the ground. The girl freed her- 
self and rose to her feet. 

“You can walk.?” asked Tarzan. 

“Yes,” she said; “my leg is numb; but it does 
not seem to be injured.” 

“Good,” commented the ape-man. “Back slowly 
away behind me — make no sudden movements. I 
think he will not charge.” 

With utmost deliberation the two backed toward 
the bush. Numa stood for a moment, growling, then 
he followed them, slowly. Tarzan wondered if he 
would come beyond his kill or if he would stop there. 
If he followed them beyond, then they could look 
for a charge, and if Numa charged it was very likely 
that he would get one of them. When the lion 
reached the carcass of the horse Tarzan stopped 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


^4 


and so did Numa, as Tarzan had thought that he 
would and the ape-man waited to see what the lion 
would do next. He eyed them for a moment, snarled 
angrily and then looked down at the tempting meat. 
Presently he crouched upon his kill and resumed 
feeding. 

The girl breathed a deep sigh of relief as she and 
the ape-man resumed their slow retreat with only 
an occasional glance from the lion, and when at last 
they reached the bush and had turned and entered 
it, she felt a sudden giddiness overwhelm her so that 
she staggered and would have fallen had Tarzan not 
caught her. It was only a moment before she re- 
gained control of herself. 

‘‘I could not help it,” she said, in half apology. 
“I was so close to death — such a horrible death — > 
it unnerved me for an instant; but I am all right 
now. How can I ever thank you.^ It was so won- 
derful — ‘you did not seem to fear the frightful crea- 
ture in the least; yet he was afraid of you. Who 
are you.?” 

‘‘He knows me,” replied Tarzan, grimly — “that 
is why he fears me.” 

He was standing facing the girl now and for the 
first time he had a chance to look at her squarely 
and closely. She was very beautiful — that was un- 
deniable; but Tarzan realized her beauty only in a 
subconscious way. It was superficial — it did not 
color her soul which must be black as sin. She was 
German — a German spy. He hated her and de^ 
sired only to compass her destruction ; but he would 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 


95 


choose the manner so that it would work most 
grievously against the enemy cause. 

He saw her naked breasts where Numa had torn 
her clothing from her and dangling there against 
the soft, white flesh he saw that which brought a 
sudden scowl of surprise and anger to his face — » 
the diamond-studded, golden locket of his youth — 
the love token that had been stolen from the breast 
of his mate by Schneider, the Hun. The girl saw 
the scowl but did not interpret it correctly. Tarzan 
grasped her roughly by the arm. 

‘‘ Where did you get this ? ” he demanded, as he 
tore the bauble from her. 

The girl drew herself to her full height. “Take 
your hand from me,” she demanded, but the ape- 
man paid no attention to her words, only seizing her 
more forcibly. 

“Answer me ! ” he snapped. “ Where did you get 
this.?” 

“What is it to you.?” she countered. 

“It is mine,” he replied. “Tell me who gave it 
to you or I will throw you back to Numa.” 

“You would do that?” she asked. 

“W^hy not?” he queried. “You are a spy and 
spies must die if they are caught.” 

“You were going to kill me, then?” 

“ I was going to take you to headquarters. They 
would dispose of you there; but Numa can do it 
quite as effectively. Which do you prefer?” 

“Hauptmann Fritz Schneider gave it to me,” she 
said. 


96 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


‘‘Headquarters it will be then,” said Tarzan. 
“Come!” 

The girl moved at his side through the bush and 
all the time her mind worked quickly. They were 
moving east, which suited her, and as long as they 
continued to move east she was glad to have the 
protection of the great, white savage. She specu- 
lated much upon the fact that her pistol still swung 
at her hip. The man must be mad not to take it 
from her. 

“What makes you think I am a spy?” she asked 
after a long silence. 

“I saw you at German headquarters,” he replied, 
“and then again inside the British lines.” 

She could not let him take her back to them. 
She must reach Wilhelms tal at once and she was de- 
termined to do so even if she must have recourse to 
her pistol. She cast a side glance at the tall figure. 
What a magnificent creature! But yet he was a 
brute who would kill her or have her killed if she 
did not slay him. And the locket! She must have 
that back — it must not fail to reach Wilhelmstal. 
Tarzan was now a foot or two ahead of her as the 
path was very narrow. Cautiously she drew her 
pistol. A single shot would sufiice and he was sc. 
close that she could not miss. As she figured it all 
out her eyes rested on the brown skin with the grace- 
ful muscles rolling beneath it and the perfect limbs 
and head and the carriage that a proud king of old 
might have envied. 

A wave of revulsion for her contemplated act 


THE GOLDEN LOCKET 


97 


surged through her. No, she could not do it — yet, 
she must be free and she must regain possession of 
the locket. And then, almost blindly, she swung the 
weapon up and struck Tarzan heavily upon the back 
of the head with its butt. Like a felled ox he 
dropped in his tracks. 


CHAPTER VI 

VENGEANCE AND MERCY 


I T WAS an hour later that Sheeta, the pantherj 
hunting, chanced to glance upward into the blue 
sky where his attention was attracted by Ska, the 
vulture, circling slowly above the bush a mile away 
and down wind. For a long minute the yellow eyes 
stared intently at the gruesome bird. They saw 
Ska dive and rise again to continue his ominous 
circling and in these movements their woodcraft read 
that which, while obvious to Sheeta, would doubtless 
have meant nothing to you or me. 

The hunting cat guessed that on the ground be- 
neath Ska was some living thing of flesh — either 
a beast feeding upon its kill or a dying animal that 
Ska did not yet dare attack. In either event it 
might prove meat for Sheeta and so the wary feline 
stalked by a circuitous route, upon soft, padded feet 
that gave forth no sound, until the circling aasvogel 
and his intended prey were up wind. Then, sniffing 
each vagrant zephyr, Sheeta, the panther, crept cau- 
tiously forward, nor had he advanced any consider- 
able distance before his keen nostrils were rewarded 
with the scent of man — a Tarmangani. 

Sheeta paused. He was not a hunter of men. 
98 


VENGEANCE AND MERCY 


99 


He was young and in his prime; but always before 
he had avoided this hated presence. Of late he had 
become more accustomed to it with the passing of 
many soldiers through his ancient hunting ground, 
and as the soldiers had frightened away a great part 
of the game Sheeta had been wont to feed upon, the 
days had been lean, and Sheeta was hungry. 

The circling Ska suggested that this Tarmangani 
might be helpless and upon the point of dying, else 
Ska would not have been interested in him, and so 
easy prey for Sheeta. With this thought in mind 
the cat resumed his stalking. Presently he pushed 
through the thick bush and his yellow-green eyes 
rested gloatingly upon the body of an almost naked 
Tarmangani lying face down in a narrow game trail 

Numa, sated, rose from the carcass of Bertha 
Kircher’s horse, seized the partially devoured bod^ 
by the neck and dragged it into the bush, then he 
started east toward the lair where he had left his 
mate. Being uncomfortably full he was very com* 
fortable and inclined to be sleepy and far from 
belligerent. He moved slowly and majestically with 
no effort at silence or concealment. The king walked 
abroad, unafraid. 

With an occasional regal glance to right or left 
he moved along a narrow game trail until at a 
turn he came to a sudden stop at what lay revealed 
before him — Sheeta, the panther, creeping stealthily 
upon the almost naked body of a Tarmangani lying 
face down in the deep dust of the pathway. Numa 


100 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


glared intently at the quiet body in the dust. Recog- 
nition came. It was his Tarmangani. A low growl 
of warning rumbled from his throat and Sheeta 
halted with one paw upon Tarzan’s back and turned 
suddenly to eye the intruder. 

What passed within those savage brains.'^ Who 
may say.'^ The panther seemed debating the wisdom 
of defending his find, for he growled horribly as 
though warning Numa away from the prey. And 
Numa.f^ Was the idea of property rights dominat- 
ing his thoughts.^ The Tarmangani was his, or he 
was the Tarmangani’s. Had not the Great White 
Ape mastered and subdued him and, too, had he 
not fed him.? Numa recalled the fear that he had 
felt of this man-thing and his cruel spear; but in 
savage brains fear is more likely to engender respect 
than hatred and so Numa found that he respected 
the creature who had subdued and mastered him. 
He saw Sheeta, upon whom he looked with contempt, 
daring to molest the master of the lion. Jealousy 
and greed alone might have been sufficient to prompt 
Numa to drive Sheeta away, even though the lion 
was not sufficiently hungry to devour the flesh that 
he thus wrested from the lesser cat; but then, too, 
there was in the little brain within the massive head 
a sense of loyalty, and perhaps this it was that sent 
Numa quickly forward, growling, toward the spit- 
ting Sheeta. 

For a moment the latter stood his ground with 
arched back and snarling face, for all the world 
like a great, spotted tabby. 


VENGEANCE AND MERCY 


101 


Numa had not felt like fighting; but the sight of 
Sheeta daring to dispute his rights kindled his fe- 
rocious brain to sudden fire. His rounded eyes 
glared with rage, his undulating tail snapped to stiff 
erectness as, with a frightful roar, he charged this 
presuming vassal. 

It came so suddenly and from so short a distance 
that Sheeta had no chance to turn and flee the 
rush, and so he met it with raking talons and snap- 
ping jaws; but the odds were all against him. To 
the larger fangs and the more powerful jaws of his 
adversary were added huge talons and the prepon- 
derance of the lion’s great weight. At the first 
clash Sheeta was crushed and, though he deliberately 
fell upon his back and drew up his powerful hind 
legs beneath Numa with the intention of disem- 
boweling him, the lion forestalled him and at the same 
time closed his awful jaws upon Sheeta’s throat. 

It was soon over. Numa rose, shaking himself, 
and stood above the torn and mutilated body of his 
foe. His own sleek coat was cut and the red blood 
trickled down his flank; though it was but a minor 
injury, it angered him. He glared down at the 
dead panther and then, in a fit of rage, he seized and 
mauled the body only to drop it in a moment, lower 
his head, voice a single terrific roar, and turn toward 
the ape-man. 

Approaching the still form he sniffed it over from 
head to foot. Then he placed a huge paw upon it 
and turned it over with its face up^ Again he 
smelled about the body and at last with his rough 


102 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


tongue licked Tarzan’s face. It was then that Tar- 
zan opened his eyes. 

Above him towered the huge lion, its hot breath 
upon his face, its rough tongue upon his cheek. The 
ape-man had often been close to death; but never 
before so close as this, he thought, for he was con- 
vinced that death was but a matter of seconds. His 
brain was still numb from the effects of the blow 
that had felled him and so he did not, for a moment, 
recognize the lion that stood over him as the one he 
had so recently encountered. 

Presently, however, recognition dawned upon him 
and with it a realization of the astounding fact that 
Numa did not seem bent on devouring him — at least 
not immediately. His position was a delicate one, 
[The lion stood astr;addle Tarzan with his front 
paws. The ape-man could not rise, therefore, with- 
out pushing the lion away and whether Numa would 
tolerate being pushed was an open question. Too, 
the beast might consider him already dead and any 
movement that indicated the contrary was true 
would, in all likelihood, arouse the killing instinct of 
the man-eater. 

But Tarzan was tiring of the situation. He was 
in no mood to lie there forever, especially when he 
contemplated the fact that the girl spy who had 
tried to brain him was undoubtedly escaping as 
rapidly as possible. 

Numa was looking right into his eyes now evi- 
dently aware that he was alive. Presently the lion 
cocked his head on one side and whined. Tarzan 


VENGEANCE AND MERCY 


103 


knew the note, and he knew that it spelled neither 
rage nor hunger, and then he risked all on a single 
throw, encouraged by that low whine. 

“ Move, Numa ! ” he commanded and placing a palm 
against the tawny shoulder he pushed the lion aside. 
Then he rose and with a hand on his hunting knife 
awaited that which might follow. It was then that 
his eyes fell for the first time on the torn body of 
Sheeta. He looked from the dead cat to the live 
one and saw the marks of conflict upon the latter, 
too, and in an instant realized something of what 
had happened — -Numa had saved him from the 
panther ! 

It seemed incredible and yet the evidence pointed 
clearly to the fact. He turned toward the lion and 
without fear approached and examined his wound» 
which he found superficial, and as Tarzan knelt be» 
side him Numa rubbed an itching ear against the 
naked, brown shoulder. Then the ape-man stroked 
the great head, picked up his spear, and looked about 
for the trail of the girl. This he soon found leading 
toward the east, and as he set out upon it some- 
thing prompted him to feel for the locket he had 
hung about his neck. It was gone ! 

No trace of anger was apparent upon the ape- 
man’s face unless it was a slight tightening of the 
jaws; but he put his hand ruefully to the back of 
his head where a bump marked the place where the 
girl had struck him and a moment later a half-smile 
played across his lips. He could not help but admit 
that she had tricked him neatly, and that it must 


104 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


have taken nerve to do the thing she did and to set 
out armed only with a pistol through the trackless 
waste that lay between them and the railway and 
beyond into the hills where Wilhelmstal lies. 

Tarzan admired courage. He was big enough to 
admit it and admire it even in a German spy but 
he saw that in this case, it only added to her re- 
sourcefulness and made her all the more dangerous 
and the necessity for putting her out of the way 
paramount. He hoped to overtake her before she 
reached Wilhelmstal and so he set out at the swing- 
ing trot that he could hold for hours at a stretch 
without apparent fatigue. 

That the girl could hope to reach the town on foot 
in less than two days seemed improbable, for it was 
a good thirty miles and part of it hilly. Even as 
the thought crossed his mind he heard the whistle 
of a locomotive to the east and knew that the rail- 
way was in operation again after a shutdown of 
several days. If the train was going south the girl 
would signal it if she had reached the right of way. 
His keen ears caught the whining of brake shoes on 
wheels and a few minutes later the signal blast for 
brakes off. The train had stopped and started 
again and, as it gained headway and greater dis- 
tance, Tarzan could tell from the direction of the 
sound that it was moving south. 

The ape-man followed the trail to the railway 
where it ended abruptly on the west side of the track 
showing that the girl had boarded the train, just 
as he thought. There was nothing now but to follow 


VENGEANCE AND MERCY 


105 


on to Wilhelms tal, where he hoped to find Captain 
Fritz Schneider, as well as the girl, and to recover 
his diamond-studded locket. 

It was dark when Tarzan reached the little? hill 
town of Wilhelmstal. He loitered on the outskirts, 
getting his bearings and trying to deterihine how 
an almost naked white man might explore the village 
without arousing suspicion. There were many sol- 
diers about and the town was under guard, for he 
could see a lone sentinel walking his post scarce a 
hundred yards from him. To elude this one would 
not be difficult; but to enter the village and search 
it would be practically impossible, garbed, or un- 
garbed, as he was. 

Creeping forward, taking advantage of every 
cover, lying flat and motionless when the sentry’s 
face was toward him, the ape-man at last reached 
the sheltering shadows of an outhouse just inside 
the lines. From there he moved stealthily from 
building to building until at last he was discovered 
by a large dog in the rear of one of the bungalows. 
The brute came slowly toward him, growling. Tar- 
zan stood motionless beside a tree. He could see a 
light in the bungalow and uniformed men moving 
about and he hoped that the dog would not bark. 
He did not; but he growled more savagely and, just 
at the moment that the rear door of the bungalow 
opened and a man stepped out, the animal charged. 

He was a large dog, as large as Dango, the hyena, 
and he charged with all the vicious impetuosity of 
Numa, the lion. As he came Tarzan knelt and the 


106 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


dog shot through the air for his throat; but he 
was dealing with no man now and he found his quick- 
ness more than matched by the quickness of the Tar- 
mangani. His teeth never reached the soft flesh — 
strong fingers, fingers of steel, seized his neck. He 
voiced a single startled yelp and clawed at the naked 
breast before him with his talons ; but he was power- 
less. The mighty fingers closed upon his throat; 
the man rose, snapped the clawing body once, and 
<?ast it aside. At the same time a voice from the 
open bungalow door called : ‘‘ Simba ! ” 

There was no response. Repeating the call the 
man descended the steps and advanced toward the 
tree. In the light from the doorway Tarzan could 
see that he was a tall, broad-shouldered man in the 
uniform of a German officer. The ape-man withdrew 
into the shadow of the tree’s stem. The man came 
closer, still calling the dog — he did not see the i 
savage beast, crouching now in the shadow, awaiting 
him. When he had approached within ten feet of 
the Tarmangani, Tarzan leaped upon him — as 
Sabor springs to the kill, so sprang the ape-man. 

The momentum and weight of his body hurled the 
German to the ground, powerful fingers prevented an 
outcry and, though the officer struggled, he had no • 
chance and a moment later lay dead beside the body [ 
of the dog. 

As Tarzan stood for a moment looking down upon 
his kill and regretting that he could not risk voicing , 
his beloved victory cry, the sight of the uniform 
suggested a means whereby he might pass to and 


VENGEANCE AND MERCY 


lOT 


fro through Wilhelmstal with the minimum chancy 
of detection. Ten minutes later a tall, broad- 
shouldered officer stepped from the yard of the 
bungalow leaving behind him the corpses of a dog 
and a naked man. 

He walked boldly along the little street and those 
who passed him could not guess that beneath Im- 
perial Germany’s uniform beat a savage heart that 
pulsed with implacable hatred for the Hun. Tar- 
zan’s first concern was to locate the hotel for here 
he guessed he would find the girl, and where the 
girl was doubtless would be Hauptmann Fritz 
Schneider who was either her confederate, her sweet- 
heart, or both, and there, too, would be Tarzan’s 
precious locket. 

He found the hotel at last, a low, two-storied 
building with a veranda. There were lights on both 
floors and people, mostly officers could be seen within. 
The ape-man considered entering and inquiring for 
those he sought; but his better judgment finally 
prompted him to reconnoiter first. Passing around 
the building he looked into all the lighted rooms on 
the first floor and, seeing neither of those for whom 
he had come, he swung lightly to the roof of the 
veranda and continued his investigations through 
windows of the second story. 

At one corner of the hotel in a rear room the 
blinds were drawn; but he heard voices within and 
once he saw a figure silhouetted momentarily against 
ihe blind. It appeared to be the figure of a woman ; 
but it was ^ne so quickly that he could not be sure. 


108 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


'Tarzan crept close to the window and listened. Yes, 
there was a woman there and a man — he heard 
distinctly the tones of their voices although he could 
overhear no words as they seemed to be whispering. 

The adjoining room was dark. Tarzan tried the 
window and found it unlatched. All was quiet 
within. He raised the sash and listened again — 
still silence. Placing a leg over the sill he slipped 
within and hurriedly glanced about. The room was 
vacant. Crossing to the door he opened it and 
looked out into the hall. There was no one there, 
either, and he stepped out and approached the door 
of the adjoining room where the man and woman 
were. 

Pressing close to the door he listened. Now he 
distinguished words, for the two had raised their 
voices as though in argument. The woman was 
speaking. 

“ I have brought the locket,” she said, “ as was 
agreed upon between you and General Kraut, as 
my identification. I carry no other credentials. 
This was to be enough. You have nothing to do 
but give me the papers and let me go.” 

The man replied in so low a tone that Tarzan 
could not catch the words and then the woman spoke 
again — a note of scorn and perhaps a little of fear 
in her voice. 

‘‘You would not dare, Hauptmann Schneider,” 
she said, and then : “ Do not touch me ! Take your 
hands from me!” 

It was then that Tarzan of the Apes opened the 


VENGEANCE AND MERCY 


109 


door and stepped into the room. What he saw was 
a huge, bull-necked German officer with one arm 
about the waist of Fraulein Bertha Kircher and a 
hand upon her forehead pushing her head back as 
he tried to kiss her on the mouth. The girl was 
struggling against the great brute; but her efforts 
were futile. Slowly the man’s lips were coming closer 
to hers and slowly, step by step, she was being car- 
ried backward. 

Schneider heard the noise of the opening and 
closing door behind him and turned. At sight of 
this strange officer he dropped the girl and 
straightened up. 

‘‘What is the meaning of this intrusion. Lieu- 
tenant ? ” he demanded, noting the other’s epaulettes. 
“Leave the room at once.” 

Tarzan made no articulate reply; but the two 
there with him heard a low growl break from those 
firm lips — ^a growl that sent a shudder through the 
frame of the girl and brought a pallor to the red 
face of the Hun and his hand to his pistol ; but even 
as he drew his weapon it was wrested from him and 
hurled through the blind and window to the yard 
beyond. 

Then Tarzan backed against the door and slowly 
removed the uniform coat. 

“You are Hauptmann Fritz Schneider,” he said 
to the German. 

“What of it.?” growled the latter. 

“ I am Tarzan of the Apes,” replied the ape-man. 
“Now you know why I intrude.” 


110 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


The two before him saw that he was naked be- 
neath the coat which he threw upon the floor and 
then he slipped quickly from the trousers and stood 
there clothed only in his loin cloth. The girl had 
recognized him by this time, too. 

“ Take your hand off that pistol,” Tarzan admon- 
ished her. Her hand dropped at her side. “Now 
come here!” 

She approached and Tarzan removed the weapon 
and hurled it after the other. At the mention of his 
name Tarzan had noted the sickly pallor that over- 
spread the features of the Hun. At last he had 
found the right man. At last his mate would be 
partially avenged — never could she be entirely 
avenged. Life was too short and there were toa 
many Germans. 

“What do you want of me? ” demanded Schneider. 

“You are going to pay the price for the thing 
you did at the little bungalow in the Waziri coun- 
try,” replied the ape-man. 

Schneider commenced to bluster and threaten. 
Tarzan turned the key in the lock of the door and 
hurled the former through the window after the 
pistols. Then he turned to the girl. “Keep out 
of the way,” he said in a low voice. “Tarzan of 
the Apes is going to kill.” 

The Hun ceased blustering and began to plead. 
“ I have a wife and children at home,” he cried. “ I 
have done nothing. I ” 

“You are going to die as befits your kind,” said 
Tarzan, “with blood on vour hands and a lie on 


VENGEANCE AND MERCY 


111 


your lips.” He started across the room toward the 
burly Hauptmann. Schneider was a large and pow- 
erful man — about the height of the ape-man but 
much heavier. He saw that neither threats nor pleas 
would avail him and so he prepared to fight as a 
cornered rat fights for its life with all the maniacal 
rage, cunning, and ferocity that the first law of 
nature imparts to many beasts. 

Lowering his bull head he charged for the ape- 
man and in the center of the floor the two clinched. 
There they stood locked and swaying for a moment 
until Tarzan succeeded in forcing his antagonist 
backward over a table which crashed to the floor, 
splintered by the weight of the two heavy bodies. 

The girl stood watching the battle with wide eyes. 
She saw the two men rolling hither and thither across 
the floor and she heard with horror the low growls 
that came from the lips of the naked giant. 
Schneider was trying to reach his foe’s throat with 
his fingers while, horror of horrors, Bertha Kircher 
could see that the other was searching for the Ger- 
man’s jugular with his teeth! 

Schneider seemed to realize this too, for he re- 
doubled his efforts to escape and finally succeeded in 
rolling over on top of the ape-man and breaking 
away. Leaping to his feet he ran for the window; 
but the ape-man was too quick for him and before 
he could leap through the sash a heavy hand fell 
upon his shoulder and he was jerked back and hurled 
across the room to the opposite wall. There Tarzan 
followed him, and once again they lockecL .dealing 


112 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


each other terrific blows, until Schneider in a pierc* 
ing voice screamed, Earner ad! Kcmierad! ** 

Tarzan grasped the man by the throat and drew 
his hunting knife. Schneider’s back was against the 
wall so that though his knees wobbled he was held 
erect by the ape-man. Tarzan brought the sharp 
point to the lower part of the German’s abdomen. 

‘^Thus you slew my mate,” he hissed in a terrible 
voice. ‘‘Thus shall you die!” 

The girl staggered forward. “ Oh, God, no ! ” she 
cried. “ Not that. You are too brave — you cannot 
be such a beast as that!” 

Tarzan turned and looked at her. “No,” he said, 
“ you are right, I cannot do it — I am no German,” 
and he raised the point of his blade and sunk it 
deep into the putrid heart of Hauptmann Fritz 
Schneider, putting a bloody period to the Hun’s 
last gasping cry : “ I did not do it ! She is not 

Then Tarzan turned toward the girl and held out 
his hand. “ Give me my locket,” he said. 

She pointed toward the dead officer. “He has 
it.” Tarzan searched him and found the trinket. 
“Now you may give me the papers,” he said to the 
girl, and without a word she handed him a folded 
document. 

For a long time he stood looking at her before 
he spoke again. 

“I came for you, too,” he said. “It would be 
difficult to take you back from here and so I was 
going to kill you, as I have sworn to kill all your 
kind; but you were right when you said that I was 


VENGEANCE AND MERCY 


113 


not such a beast as that slayer of women. I could 
not slay him as he slew mine, nor can I slay you 
who are a woman.” 

He crossed to the window, raised the sash and 
an instant later he had stepped out and disappeared 
into the night. And then Fraulein Bertha Kircher 
stepped quickly to the corpse upon the floor, slipped 
her hand inside the blouse and drew forth a little 
sheaf of papers which she tucked into her waist 
before she went to the window and called for helpc 


CHAPTER Vn 


WHEN BLOOD TOLD 


ARZAN of the Apes was disgusted. He had 



X had the German spy, Bertha Kircher, in his 
power and had left her unscathed. It is true that 
he had slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider, that Un- 
terlieutenant von Goss had died at his hands, and 
that he had otherwise wreaked vengeance upon the 
men of the German company who had murdered, pil- 
laged, and raped at Tarzan’s bungalow in the Waziri 
country. There was still another officer to be ac- 
counted for; but him he could not find. It was 
Lieutenant Obergatz he still sought, though vainly, 
for at last he learned that the man had been sent 
upon some special mission, whether in Africa or 
back to Europe Tarzan’s informant either did not 
know or would not divulge. 

But the fact that he had permitted sentiment to 
stay his hand when he might so easily have put 
Bertha Kircher out of the way in the hotel at Wil- 
helmstal that night rankled in the ape-man’s bosom. 
He was shamed by his weakness and when he had 
handed the paper she had given him to the British 
chief of staff, even though the information it con- 
tained permitted the British to frustrate a German 
114 


WHEN BLOOD TOLD 


11& 


flank attack, he was still much dissatisfied with him- 
self, And possibly the root of this dissatisfaction 
lay in the fact that he realized that were he again 
to have the same opportunity he would still find it 
as impossible to slay a woman as it had been in 
Wilhelmstal that night. 

Tarzan blamed this weakness, as he considered it, 
upon his association with the effeminating influences 
of civilization, for in the bottom of his savage heart 
he held in contempt both civilization and its repre- 
sentatives — the men and women of the civilized 
countries of the world. Always was he comparing 
their weaknesses, their vices, their hypocrisies, and 
their little vanities with the open, primitive ways of 
his ferocious jungle mates and all the while there 
battled in that same big heart with these forces 
another mighty force — Tarzan’s love and loyalty 
for his friends of the civilized world. 

The ape-man, reared as he had been by savage 
beasts amid savage beasts, was slow to make friends. 
Acquaintances he numbered by the hundreds ; but of 
friends he had few. These few he would have died 
for as, doubtless, they would have died for him ; but 
there were none of these fighting with the British 
forces in East Africa and so, sickened and disgusted 
by the sight of man waging his cruel and inhuman 
warfare, Tarzan determined to heed the insistent call 
of the remote jungle of his youth, for the Germans 
were now on the run and the war in East Africa 
was so nearly over that he realized that his further 
services would be of neglifi!;ible value. 


116 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Never regularly sworn into the service of the 
king, he was under no obligation to remain now that 
the moral obligation had been removed, and so it 
was that he disappeared from the British camp as 
mysteriously as he had appeared a few months 
before. 

More than once had Tarzan reverted to the primi- 
tive only to return again to civilization through love 
for his mate; but now that she was gone he felt 
that this time he had definitely departed forever 
from the haunts of man, and that he should live and 
die a beast among beasts even as he had been from 
infancy to maturity. 

Between him and his destination lay a trackless 
wilderness of untouched primeval savagery where, 
doubtless in many spots, his would be the first human 
foot to touch the virgin turf. Nor did this prospect 
dismay the Tarmangani — rather was it an urge and 
an inducement, for rich in his veins flowed that noble 
strain of blood that has made most of the earth’s 
surface habitable for man. 

The question of food and water that would have 
risen paramount in the mind of an ordinary man 
contemplating such an excursion gave Tarzan little 
concern. The wilderness was his natural habitat 
and woodcraft as inherent to him as breathing. 
Like other jungle animals he could scent water from 
a great distance and, where you or I might die of 
thirst, the ape-man would unerringly select the exact 
spot at which to dig and find water. 

For several days Tarzan traversed a country rich 


WHEN BLOOD TOLD 


117 


in game and water courses. He moved slowly, hunt- 
ing and fishing, or again fraternizing or quarreling 
with the other savage denizens of the jungle. Now 
it was little Manu, the monkey, who chattered and 
scolded at the mighty Tarmangani and in the next 
breath warned him that Histah, the snake, lay coiled 
in the long grass just ahead. Of Manu Tarzan in- 
quired concerning the great apes — the Mangani — 
and was told that few inhabited this part of the 
jungle, and that even these were hunting farther 
to the north this season of the year. 

‘*But there is Bolgani,” said Manu. “Would you 
like to see Bolgani?” 

Manu’s tone was sneering and Tarzan knew that 
it was because little Manu thought all creatures 
feared mighty Bolgani, the gorilla. Tarzan arched 
his great chest and struck it with a clinched fist. 
“ I am Tarzan,” he cried. “ While Tarzan was yet 
a balu he slew a Bolgani. Tarzan seeks the Man- 
gani, who are his brothers, but Bolgani he does not 
seek, so let Bolgani keep from the path of Tarzan.” 

Little Manu, the monkey, was much impressed, 
for the way of the jungle is to boast and to believe. 
It was then that he condescended to tell Tarzan more 
of the Mangani. 

“They go there and there and there,” he said, 
making a wide sweep with a brown hand first toward 
the north, then west, and then south again. “For 
there,” and he pointed due west, “is much hunting; 
but between lies a great place where there is no 
food and no water, so they must go that way,” and 


118 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


again he swung his hand through the half-circle that 
explained to Tarzan the great detour the apes made 
to come to their hunting ground to the west. 

That was all right for the Mangani, who are lazy 
and do not care to move rapidly; but for Tarzan 
the straight road would be the best. He would cross 
the dry country and come to the good hunting in 
a third of the time that it would take to go far to 
the north and circle back again. And so it was that 
he continued on toward the west and crossing a 
range of low mountains came in sight of a broad 
plateau, rock strewn and desolate. Far in the dis- 
tance he saw another range of mountains beyond 
which he felt must lie the hunting ground of the 
Mangani. There he would join them and remain 
for a while before continuing on toward the coast 
and the little cabin that his father had built beside 
the land-locked harbor at the jungle’s edge. 

Tarzan was full of plans. He would rebuild and 
enlarge the cabin of his birth, constructing storage 
houses where he would make the apes lay away food 
when it was plenty against the times that were lean 
— a thing no ape ever had dreamed of doing. And 
the tribe would remain always in the locality and he 
would be king again as he had in the past. He would 
try to teach them some of the better things that he 
had learned from man, yet knowing the ape-mind as 
only Tarzan could, he feared that his labors would 
be for naught. 

The ape-man found the country he was crossing 
rough in the extreme, the roughest he ever had en- 


WHEN BLOOD TOLD 


119 


countered. The plateau was cut by frequent canyons 
the passage of which often entailed hours of wear- 
ing effort. The vegetation was sparse and of a 
faded brown color that lent to the whole landscape 
a most depressing aspect. Great rocks were strewn 
in every direction as far as the eye could see, lying 
partially embedded in an impalpable dust that rose 
in clouds about him at every step. The sun beat 
down mercilessly out of a cloudless sky. 

For a day Tarzan toiled across this now hateful 
land and at the going down of the sun the distant 
mountains to the west seemed no nearer than at 
mom. Never a sign of living thing had the ape- 
man seen, other than Ska, that bird of ill omen, 
that had followed him tirelessly since he had en- 
tered this parched waste. 

No littlest beetle that he might eat had given 
evidence that life of any sort existed here, and it 
was a hungry and thirsty Tarzan who lay down to 
rest in the evening. He decided now to push on 
during the cool of the night, for he realized that 
even mighty Tarzan had his limitations and that 
where there was no food one could not eat and where 
there was no water the greatest woodcraft in the 
world could find none. It was a totally new ex- 
perience to Tarzan to find so barren and terrible 
a country in his beloved Africa. Even the Sahara 
had its oases ; but this frightful world gave no indi- 
cation of containing a square foot of hospitable 
ground. 

However, he had no misgivings but that he would 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


120 


fare forth into the wonder country of which little 
Manu had told him though it was certain that he 
would do it with a dry skin and an empty belly. 
And so he fought on until daylight when he again 
felt the need of rest. He was at the edge of another 
of those terrible canyons, the eighth he had crossed, 
whose precipitous sides would have taxed to the 
uttermost the strength of an untired man well for- 
tified by food and water and for the first time, as 
he looked down into the abyss and then at the oppo- 
site side that he must scale, misgivings began to assail 
his mind. 

He did not fear death — with the memory of his 
murdered mate still fresh in his mind he almost 
courted it, yet strong within him was that primal 
instinct of self-preservation — the battling force of 
life that would keep him an active contender against 
the Great Reaper until, fighting to the very last, he 
should be overcome by a superior power. 

A shadow swung slowly across the ground beside 
him and looking up the ape-man saw Ska, the vul- 
ture, wheeling a wide circle above him. The grim 
and persistent harbinger of evil aroused the man 
to renewed determination. He arose and approached 
the edge of the canyon and then wheeling, with his 
face turned upward toward the circling bird of prey, 
he bellowed forth the challenge of the bull ape. 

‘‘ I am Tarzan,” he shouted, “ Lord of the Jungle. 
Tarzan of the Apes is not for Ska, eater of carrion. 
Go back to the lair of Dango and feed off the leav- 
ings of the hyeiiRs, for Tarzan v ill leave no bones 


WHEN BLOOD TOLD 


121 


for Ska to pick in this empty wilderness of death.” 

But before he reached the bottom of the canyon 
he again was forced to the realization that his great 
strength was waning, and when he dropped ex* 
hausted at the foot of the cliff and saw before him 
the opposite wall that must be scaled, he bared his 
fighting fangs and growled. For an hour he lay 
resting in the cool shade at the foot of the cliff. 
All about him reigned utter silence — the silence of 
the tomb. No fluttering birds, no humming insects, 
no scurrying reptiles relieved the deathlike stillness* 
This indeed was the valley of death. He felt the 
depressing influence of the horrible place settling 
down upon him ; but he staggered to his feet, shaking 
himself like a great lion, for was he not still Tarzan, 
mighty Tarzan of the Apes? Yes, and Tarzan the 
mighty he would be until the last throb of that savage 
heart! 

As he crossed the floor of the canyon he saw 
something lying close to the base of the side wall 
he was approaching — something that stood out in 
startling contrast to all the surroundings and yet 
seemed so much a part and parcel of the somber 
scene as to suggest an actor amid the settings of a 
well-appointed stage, and as though to carry out 
the allegory the pitiless rays of flaming Kudu topped 
the eastern cliff picking out the thing lying at the 
foot of the western wall like a giant spotlight. 

And as Tarzan came nearer he saw the bleached 
skull and bones of a human being about which were 
remnants of clothing and articles of equipment that. 


122 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


as he examined them, filled the ape-man with curiosit 
to such an extent that for a time he forgot his 
own predicament in contemplation of the remark- 
able story suggested by these mute evidences of a 
tragedy of a time long past. 

The bones were in a fair state of preservation and 
indicated by their intactness that the fiesh had 
probably been picked from them by vultures as none 
was broken; but the pieces of equipment bore out 
the suggestion of their great age. In this protected 
spot where there were no frosts and evidently but 
little rainfall, the bones might have lain for ages 
without disintegrating for there were here no other 
forces to scatter or disturb them. 

Near the skeleton lay a helmet of hammered brass 
and a corroded breastplate of steel while at one side 
was a long, straight sword in its scabbard and an 
ancient harquebus. The bones were those of a large 
man — a man of wondrous strength and vitality 
Tarzan knew he must have been to have penetrated 
thus far through the dangers of Africa with such a 
ponderous yet at the same time futile armament. 

The ape-man felt a sense of deep admiration for 
this nameless adventurer of a bygone day. What 
a brute of a man he must have been and what a 
glorious tale of battle and kaleidoscopic vicissitudes 
of fortune must once have been locked within that 
whitened skull! Tarzan stooped to examine the 
shreds of clothing that still lay about the bones. 
Every particle of leather had disappeared, doubtless 
eaten by Ska. No boots remained, if the man had 


WHEN BLOOD TOLD 


123 


worn boots, but there were several buckles scattered 
about suggesting that a great part of his trappings 
had been of leather, while just beneath the bones of 
one hand lay a metal cylinder about eight inches 
long and two inches in diameter. As Tarzan picked 
it up he saw that it had been heavily lacquered and 
had withstood the slight ravages of time so well as 
to be in as perfect a state of preservation today as 
it had been when its owner dropped into his last, 
long sleep perhaps centuries ago. 

As he examined it he discovered that one end was 
closed with a friction cover which a little twisting 
force soon loosened and removed revealing within a 
roll of parchment which the ape-man removed and 
opened disclosing a number of age-yellowed sheets 
closely written upon in a fine hand in a language 
which he guessed to be Spanish; but which he could 
not decipher. Upon the last sheet was a roughly 
drawn map with numerous reference points marked 
upon it, all unintelligible to Tarzan, who, after a 
brief examination of the papers, returned them to 
their metal case, replaced the top and was about to 
toss the little cylinder to the ground beside the mute 
remains of its former possessor when some whim of 
curiosity unsatisfied prompted him to slip it into 
the quiver with his arrows, though as he did so it 
was with the grim thought that possibly centuries 
hence it might again come to the sight of man 
beside his own bleached bones. 

And then, with a parting glance at the ancient 
skeleton, he turned to the task of ascending the west- 


IM 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


ern wall of the canyon. Slowly and with many rests 
he dragged his weakening body upwards. Again and 
again he slipped back from sheer exhaustion and 
would have fallen to the floor of the canyon but from 
merest chance. How long it took him to scale that 
frightful wall he could not have told, and when at 
last he dragged himself over the top it was to lie 
weak and gasping, too spent to rise or even to move 
a few inches farther from the perilous edge of the 
chasm. 

At last he arose, very slowly and with evident 
effort gaining his knees first and then staggering to 
his feet, yet his indomitable will was evidenced by a 
sudden straightening of his shoulders and a deter- 
mined shake of his head as he lurched forward on 
unsteady legs to take up his valiant fight for sur- 
vival. Ahead he scanned the rough landscape for 
sign of another canyon which he knew would spell 
inevitable doom. The western hills rose closer now 
though weirdly unreal as they seemed to dance in the 
sunlight as though mocking him with their nearness 
at the moment that exhaustion was about to render 
them forever unattainable. 

Beyond them he knew must be the fertile hunting 
grounds of which Manu had told. Even if no canyon 
intervened, his chances of surmounting even low 
hills seemed remote should he have the fortune to 
reach their base ; but with another canyon hope was 
dead. Above him Ska still circled and it seemed to 
the ape-man that the ill-omened bird hovered ever 
lower and lower as though reading in that failing 


WHEN BLOOD TOLD 


1£5 


gait the nearing of the end and through cracked 
lips Tarzan growled out his defiance. 

Mile after mile Tarzan of the Apes put slowly 
behind him borne up by sheer force of will where a 
lesser man would have lain down to die and rest for- 
ever tired muscles whose every move was an agony 
of effort ; but at last his progress became practically 
mechanical — he staggered on with a dazed mind 
that reacted numbly to a single urge — on, on, on! 
The hills were now but a dim, ill-defined blur ahead. 
Sometimes he forgot that they were hills, and again 
he wondered vaguely why he must go on forever 
through all this torture endeavoring to overtake 
them — the fleeing, elusive hills. Presently he began 
to hate them and there formed within his half-de- 
lirious brain the hallucination that the hills were 
German hills, that they had slain someone dear to 
him, whom he could never quite recall, and that he 
was pursuing to slay them. 

This idea, growing, appeared to give him 
strength — a new and revivifying purpose — so that 
for a time he no longer staggered ; but went forward 
steadily with head erect. Once he stumbled and fell, 
and when he tried to rise he found that he could 
not — that his strength was so far gone that he 
could only crawl forward on his hands and knees 
for a few yards and then sink down again to rest. 

It was during one of these frequent periods of 
utter exhaustion that he heard the flap of dismal 
wings close above him. With his remaining strength 
he turned himself over on his back to see Ska wheel 


126 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


quickly upward. With the sight Tarzan’s mind 
cleared for a while. 

“ Is the end so near as that.^ ” he thought. “ Does 
Ska know that I am so near gone that he dares come 
down and perch upon my carcass ? ” And even then 
a grim smile touched those swollen lips as into the 
savage mind came a sudden thought — the cunning 
of the wild beast at bay. Closing his eyes he threw 
a forearm across them to protect them from Ska’s 
powerful beak and then he lay very still and waited. 

It was restful lying there, for the sun was now 
obscured by clouds and Tarzan was very tired. He 
feared that he might sleep and something told him 
that if he did he would never awaken, and so he 
concentrated all his remaining powers upon the one 
thought of remaining awake. Not a muscle moved — 
to Ska, circling above, it became evident that the end 
had come — that at last he should be rewarded for 
his long vigil. 

Circling slowly he dropped closer and closer to 
the dying man. Why did not Tarzan move.? Had 
he indeed been overcome by the sleep of exhaustion, 
or was Ska right — had Death at last claimed that 
mighty body? Was that great, savage heart stilled 
forever? It is unthinkable. 

Ska, filled with suspicions, circled warily. Twice 
he almost alighted upon the great, naked breast 
only to wheel suddenly away; but the third time 
his talons touched the brown skin. It was as though 
the contact closed an electric circuit that instan- 
taneously vitalized the quiet clod that had lain mo- 


WHEN BLOOD TOLD 


127 


tionless so long. A brown hand swept downward 
from the brown forehead and before Ska could raise 
a wing in flight he was in the clutches of his intended 
victim. 

Ska fought, but he was no match for even a dying 
Tarzan, and a moment later the ape-man’s teeth 
closed upon the carrion-eater. The flesh was coarse 
and tough and gave off an unpleasant odor and a 
worse taste ; but it was food and the blood was drink 
and Tarzan only an ape at heart and a dying ape 
into the bargain — dying of starvation and thirst. 

Even mentally weakened as he was the ape-man 
was still master of his appetite and so he ate but 
sparingly, saving the rest and then, feeling that he 
now could do so safely, he turned upon his side and 
slept. 

Rain, beating heavily upon his body, awakened 
him and sitting up he cupped his hands and caught 
the precious drops which he transferred to his 
parched throat. Only a little he got at a time ; but 
that was best. The few mouthfuls of Ska that he 
had eaten, together with the blood and rain water 
and the sleep had refreshed him greatly and put new 
strength into his tired muscles. 

Now he could see the hills again and they were 
close and, though there was no sun, the world looked 
bright and cheerful for Tarzan knew that he was 
saved. The bird that would have devoured him, 
and the providential rain, had saved him at the 
very moment that death seemed inevitable. 

Again partaking of a few mouthfuls of the unsa** 


1^8 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


vory flesh of Ska, the vulture, the ape-man arose with 
something of his old force and set out with steady 
gait toward the hills of promise rising alluringly 
ahead. Darkness fell before he reached them; but 
he kept on until he felt the steeply rising ground 
that proclaimed his arrival at the base of the hills 
proper and then he lay down and waited until morn- 
ing should reveal the easiest passage to the land 
beyond. The rain had ceased, but the sky still 
was overcast so that even his keen eyes could not 
penetrate the darkness farther than a few feet. And 
there he slept, after eating again of what remained 
of Ska, until the morning sun awakened him with a 
new sense of strength and well-being. 

And so at last he came through the hills out of 
the valley of death into a land of parklike beauty, 
rich in game. Below him lay a deep valley through 
the center of which dense jungle vegetation marked 
the course of a river beyond which a primeval forest 
extended for miles to terminate at last at the foot 
of lofty, snow-capped mountains. It was a land 
that Tarzan never had looked upon before, nor was 
it likely that the foot of another white man ever 
had touched it unless, possibly, in some long-gone 
day the adventurer whose skeleton he had found 
bleaching in the canyon had traversed it. 


CHAPTER VIII 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 

T hree days the ape-man spent in resting and 
recuperating, eating fruits and nuts and the 
smaller animals that were most easily bagged, and 
upon the fourth he set out to explore the valley and 
search for the great apes. Time was a negligible 
factor in the equation of life — it was all the same 
to Tarzan if he reached the west coast in a month 
or a year or three years. All time was his and all 
Africa. His was absolute freedom — the last tie 
that had bound him to civilization and custom had 
been severed. He was alone but he was not exactly 
lonely. The greater part of his life had been spent 
thus, and though there was no other of his kind, he 
was at all times surrounded by the jungle peoples 
for whom familiarity had bred no contempt within 
his breast. The least of them interested him and, 
too, there were those with whom he always made 
friends easily, and there were his hereditary enemies 
whose presence gave a spice to life that might other- 
wise have become humdrum and monotonous. 

And so it was that on the fourth day he set out 
to explore the valley and search for his fellow-apes. 
He had proceeded southward for a short distance 
129 


130 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


when his nostrils were assailed by the scent of man, 
of Gomangani, the black man. There were many of 
them and mixed with their scent was another — that 
of a she Tarmangani. 

Swinging through the trees Tarzan approached 
the authors of these disturbing scents. He came 
warily from the flank, but paying no attention to the 
wind, for he knew that man with his dull senses 
could apprehend him only through his eyes or ears 
and then when comparatively close. Had he been 
stalking Numa or Sheeta he would have circled 
about until his quarry was up wind from him, thus 
taking practically all the advantage up to the very 
moment that he came within sight or hearing; but in 
the stalking of the dull clod, man, he approached 
with almost contemptuous indifference so that all the 
jungle about him knew that he was passing — all 
but the men he stalked. 

From the dense foliage of a great tree he watched 
them pass — a disreputable mob of blacks, some 
garbed in the uniform of German East African na- 
tive troops, others wearing a single garment of the 
same uniform, while many had reverted to the simple 
dress of their forbears — approximating nudity. 
There were many black women with them, laughing 
and talking as they kept pace with the men, all of 
whom were armed with German rifles and equipped 
with German belts and ammunition. 

There were no white officers there, but it was 
none the less apparent to Tarzan that these men 
were from some German native command, and he 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 131 


guessed that they had slain their officers and taken 
to the jungle with their women, or had stolen some 
from native villages through which they must have 
passed. It was evident that they were putting 
as much ground between themselves and the coast as 
possible and doubtless were seeking some impene- 
trable fastness of the vast interior where they might 
inaugurate a reign of terror among the primitively 
armed inhabitants and by raiding, looting, and rape 
grow rich in goods and women at the expense of the 
district upon which they settled themselves. 

Between two of the black women marched a slen- 
der, white girl. She was hatless and with tom and 
disheveled clothing that had evidently once been a 
trim riding habit. Her coat was gone and her waist 
half torn from her body. Occasionally and without 
apparent provocation one or the other of the Ne- 
gresses struck or pushed her roughly. Tarzan 
watched through half-closed eyes. His first impulse 
was to leap among them and bear the girl from their 
cruel clutches. He had recognized her immediately 
and it was because of this fact that he hesitated. 

What was it to Tarzan of the Apes what fate 
befell this enemy spy? He had been unable to kill 
her himself because of an inherent weakness that 
would not permit him to lay hands upon a woman, 
all of which of course had no bearing upon what 
others might do to her. That her fate would now 
be infinitely more horrible than the quick and pain- 
less death that the ape-man would have meted to her 
only interested Tarzan to the extent that the more 


132 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


frighful the end of a German the more in keeping 
it would be with what they all deserved. 

And so he let the blacks pass with Fraulein Bertha 
Kircher in their midst, or at least until the last 
straggling warrior suggested to his mind the pleas- 
ures of blackbaiting — an amusement and a sport in 
which he had grown ever more proficient since that 
long-gone day when Kulonga, the son of Mbonga, the 
chief, had cast his unfortunate spear at Kala, the 
ape-man’s foster mother. 

The last man, who must have stopped for some 
purpose, was fully a quarter of a mile in rear of the 
party. He was hurrying to catch up when Tarzan 
saw him, and as he passed beneath the tree in which 
the ape-man perched above the trail, a silent noose 
dropped deftly about his neck. The main body still 
was in plain sight, and as the frightened man voiced 
a piercing shriek of terror, they looked back to see 
his body rise as though by magic straight into the 
air and disappear amidst the leafy foliage above. 

For a moment the blacks stood paralyzed by 
astonishment and fear; but presently the burly ser- 
geant, Usanga, who led them, started back along the 
trail at a run, calling to the others to follow him. 
Loading their guns as they came the blacks ran to 
succor their fellow, and at Usanga’s command they 
spread into a thin line that presently entirely sur- 
rounded the tree into which their comrade had 
vanished. 

Usanga called but received no reply, then he ad- 
vanced slowly with rifle at the ready, peering up 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 133 


into the tree. He could see no one — nothing. The 
circle closed in until fifty blacks were searching 
among the branches with their keen eyes. What had 
become of their fellow? They had seen him rise 
into the tree and since then many eyes had been fas- 
tened upon the spot, yet there was no sign of him. 
One more venturesome than his fellows volunteered 
to climb into the tree and investigate. He was gone 
but a minute or two and when he dropped to earth 
again he swore that there was no sign of a creature 
there. 

Perplexed, and by this time a bit awed, the blacks 
drew slowly away from the spot and with many 
backward glances and less laughing continued upon 
their journey until, when about a mile beyond the 
spot at which their fellow had disappeared, those in 
the lead saw him peering from behind a tree at one 
side of the trail just in front of them. With shouts 
to their companions that he had been found they ran 
forward; but those who were first to reach the tree 
stopped suddenly and shrank back, their eyes rolling 
fearfully first in one direction and then in another 
as though they expected some nameless horror to 
leap out upon them. 

Nor was their terror without foundation. Im- 
paled upon the end of a broken branch the head of 
their companion was propped behind the tree so that 
it appeared to be looking out at them from the 
opposite side of the bole. 

It was then that many wished to turn back, argu- 
ing that they had offended some demon of the wood 


134 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


upon whose preserve they had trespassed ; but 
Usanga refused to listen to them, assuring them that 
inevitable torture and death awaited them should 
they return and fall again into the hands of their 
cruel German masters. At last his reasoning pre- 
vailed to the end that a much-subdued and terrified 
band moved in a compact mass, like a drove of sheep, 
forward through the valley and there were no 
stragglers. 

It is a Happy characteristic of the Negro race 
which they hold in common with little children, that 
their spirits seldom remain depressed for a con- 
siderable length of time after the immediate cause 
of depression is removed, and so it was that in half 
an hour Usanga’s band was again beginning to take 
on to some extent its former appearance of carefree 
light-heartedness. Thus were the heavy clouds of 
fear slowly dissipating when a turn in the trail 
brought them suddenly upon the headless body of 
their erstwhile companion lying directly in their 
path and they were again plunged into the depth of 
fear and gloomy forebodings. 

So utterly inexplicable and uncanny had the en- 
tire occurrence been that there was not a one of them 
who could find a ray of comfort penetrating the 
dead blackness of its ominous portent. What had 
happened to one of their number each conceived as 
being a wholly possible fate for himself — in fact 
quite his probable fate. If such a thing could hap- 
pen in broad daylight what frightful thing might not 
fall to their lot when night had enshrouded them in 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 135 


her mantle of darkness. They trembled in antici- 
pation. 

The white girl in their midst was no less mystified 
than they; but far less moved, since sudden death 
was the most merciful fate to which she might now 
look forward. So far she had been subjected to 
nothing worse than the petty cruelties of the women 
while, on the other hand, it had alone been the pres- 
ence of the women that had saved her from worse 
treatment at the hands of some of the men' — 
notably the brutal, black sergeant, Usanga. His 
own woman was of the party — a veritable giantess, 
a virago of the first magnitude — and she was evi- 
dently the only thing in the world of which Usanga 
stood in awe. Even though she was particularly 
cruel to the young woman, the latter believed that 
she was her sole protection from the degraded black 
tyrant. 

Late in the afternoon the band came upon a small 
palisaded village of thatched huts set in a clearing 
in the jungle close beside a placid river. At their 
approach the villagers came pouring out and Usanga 
advanced with two of his warriors to palaver with 
the chief. The experiences of the day had so shaken 
the nerves of the black sergeant that he was ready 
to treat with these people rather than take their vil- 
lage by force of arms as would ordinarily have been 
his preference ; but now a vague conviction influenced 
him that there watched over this part of the jungle 
a powerful demon who wielded miraculous power 
for evil against those who offended him. First 


136 


TARZ4N THE UNTAMED 


Usanga would learn how these villagers stood with 
this savage god and if they had his goodwill Usanga 
would be most careful to treat them with kindness 
and respect. 

At the palaver it developed that the village chief 
had food, goats, and fowl which he would be glad 
to dispose of for a proper consideration ; but as the 
consideration would have meant parting with preci- 
ous rifles and ammunition, or the very clothing from 
their backs, Usanga began to see that after all it 
might be forced upon him to wage war to obtain 
food. 

A happy solution was arrived at by a suggestion 
of one of his men — that the soldiers go forth the 
following day and hunt for the villagers, bringing 
them in so much fresh meat in return for their hos- 
pitality, This the chief agreed to, stipulating the 
kind and quantity of game to be paid in return for 
flour, goats, and fowl, and a certain number of huts 
that were to be turned over to the visitors. The 
details having been settled after an hour or more 
of that bickering argument of which the native Afri- 
can is so fond, the newcomers entered the village 
where they were assigned to huts. 

Bertha Kircher found herself alone in a small hut 
close to the palisade at the far end of the village 
street, and though she was neither bound nor 
guarded, she was assured by Usanga that she could 
not escape the village without running into almost 
certain death in the jungle which the villagers as- 
sured them was infested by lions of great size and 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 137 


ferocity. “Be good to Usanga,” he concluded, “ and 
no harm will befall you. I will come again to see 
you after the others are asleep. Let us be friends.” 

As the brute left her the girl’s frame was racked 
by a convulsive shudder as she sank to the floor of 
the hut and covered her face with her hands. She 
realized now why the women had not been left to 
guard her. It was the work of the cunning Usanga, 
but would not his woman suspect something of his 
intentions.? She was no fool and, further, being 
imbued with insane jealousy she was ever looking 
for some overt act upon the part of her ebon lord* 
Bertha Kircher felt that only she might save her 
and that she would save her if word could be but 
gotten to her. But how? 

Left alone and away from the eyes of her captors 
for the first time since the previous night, the girl 
immediately took advantage of the opportunity to 
assure herself that the papers she had taken from 
the body of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider were still 
safely sewn inside one of her undergarments. 

Alas ! Of what value could they now ever be to 
her beloved country? But habit and loyalty were 
so strong within her that she still clung to the deter- 
mined hope of eventually delivering the little packet 
to her chief. 

The natives seemed to have forgotten her exist- 
ence — no one came near the hut, not even to bring 
her food. She could hear them at the other end of 
the village laughing and yelling and knew that they 
Were celebrating with food and native beer— 


138 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


knowledge which only increased her apprehension. 
To be prisoner in a native village in the very heart 
of an unexplored region of Central Africa — the 
only white woman among a band of drunken Negroes ! 
The very thought appalled her. Yet there was a 
slight promise in the fact that she had so far been 
unmolested — the promise that they might, indeed, 
have forgotten her and that soon they might become 
so hopelessly drunk as to be harmless. 

Darkness had fallen and still no one came. The 
girl wondered if she dared venture forth in search 
of Naratu, Usanga’s woman, for Usanga might not 
forget that he had promised to return. No one was 
near as she stepped out of the hut and made her 
way toward the part of the village where the revelers 
were making merry about a large fire. As she ap- 
proached she saw the villagers and their guests 
squatting in a large circle about the blaze before 
which a half-dozen naked warriors leaped and bent 
and stamped in some grotesque dance. Pots of food 
and gourds of drink were being passed about among 
the audience. Dirty hands were plunged into the 
food pots and the captured portions devoured so 
greedily that one might have thought the entire 
community had been upon the point of starvation. 
The gourds they held to their lips until the beer 
ran down their chins and the vessel was wrested 
from them by some greedy neighbor. The drink 
had now begun to take noticeable effect upon most 
of them with the result that they were beginning to 
give themselves up to utter and unlicensed abandon* 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 139 


As the girl came nearer, keeping in the shadow 
of the huts, looking for Naratu she was suddenly 
discovered by one upon the edge of the crowd — a 
huge woman who rose, shrieking, and came toward 
her. From her aspect the white girl thought that 
the woman meant literally to tear her to pieces. 
So utterly wanton and uncalled-for was the attack 
that it found the girl entirely unprepared, and what 
would have happened had not a warrior interfered 
may only be guessed. And then Usanga, noting the 
interruption, came lurching forward to question 
her. 

‘‘What do you want,’^ he cried, “food and drink.? 
Come with me ! ” and he threw an arm about her and 
dragged her toward the circle. 

“No!” she cried, “I want Naratu. Where is 
Naratu.? ” 

This seemed to sober the black for a moment as 
though he had temporarily forgotten his better half. 
He cast quick, fearful glances about and then evi- 
dently assured that Naratu had noticed nothing, he 
ordered the warrior who was still holding the infu- 
riated black woman from the white girl to take the 
latter back to her hut and to remain there on guard 
over her. 

First appropriating a gourd of beer for himself 
the warrior motioned the girl to precede him, and 
thus guarded she returned to her hut, the fellow 
squatting down just outside the doorway where 
he confined his attentions for some time to the 
gourd. 


140 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Bertha Kircher sat down at the far side of the 
hut awaiting she knew not what impending fate* 
She could not sleep so filled was her mind with wild 
schemes of escape though each new one must always 
be discarded as impractical. Half an hour after the 
warrior had returned her to her prison he rose and 
entered the hut where he tried to engage in conver- 
sation with her. Groping across the interior he 
leaned his short spear against the wall and sat down 
beside her, and as he talked he edged closer and 
closer until at last he could reach out and touch her. 
Shrinking, she drew away. 

“Do not touch me!” she cried “I will tell 
Usanga if you do not leave me alone and you know 
what he will do to you.” 

The man only laughed drunkenly and reaching 
out his hand grabbed her arm and dragged her 
toward him. She fought and cried aloud for Usanga 
and at the same instant the entrance to the hut was 
darkened by the form of a man. 

“What is the matter?” shouted the newcomer in 
the deep tones that the girl recognized as belonging 
to the black sergeant. He had come ; but would she 
be any better off? She knew that she would not 
unless she could play upon Usanga’s fear of his 
woman. 

When Usanga found what had happened he 
kicked the warrior out of the hut and bade him 
begone and when the fellow had disappeared, mut- 
tering and grumbling, the sergeant approached the 
white girl. He was very drunk so drunk that sev' 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 14!l 


eral times she succeeded in eluding him and twice 
she pushed him so violently away that he stumbled 
and fell. 

Finally he became enraged and rushing upon her 
seized her in his long, apelike arms. Striking at his 
face with clenched fists she tried to protect herself 
and drive him away. She threatened him with the 
wrath of Naratu and at that he changed his tactics 
and began to plead and as he argued with her, prom- 
ising her safety and eventual freedom, the warrior 
he had kicked out of the hut made his staggering 
way to the hut occupied by Naratu. 

Usanga, finding that pleas and promises were as 
unavailing as threats, at last lost both his patience 
and his head, seizing the girl roughly, and simul- 
taneously there burst into the hut a raging demon 
of jealousy. Naratu had come. Kicking, scratch- 
ing, striking, biting she routed the terrified Usanga 
in short order and so obsessed was she by her desire 
to inflict punishment upon her unfaithful lord and 
master that she quite forgot the object of his 
infatuation. 

Bertha Kircher heard her screaming down the vil- 
lage street at Usanga’s heels and trembled at the 
thought of what lay in store for her at the hands 
of these two, for she knew that tomorrow at the 
latest Naratu would take out upon her the full 
measure of her jealous hatred after she had spent 
her first wrath upon Usanga. 

The two had departed but a few minutes when 
the warrior guard returned. He looked into the hut 


142 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


and then entered. “No one will stop me now, white 
woman,” he growled as he stepped quickly across the 
hut toward her. 

Tarzan of the Apes feasting well upon a juicy 
haunch from Bara, the deer, was vaguely conscious 
of a troubled mind. He should have been at peace 
with himself and all the world, for was he not in his 
native element surrounded by game in plenty and 
rapidly filling his belly with the flesh he loved best? 

But Tarzan of the Apes was haunted by the picture 
of a slight, young girl being shoved and struck by 
brutal Negresses, and in imagination could see her 
now camped in this savage country a prisoner among 
degraded blacks. 

Why was it so difficult to remember that she was 
only a hated German and a spy? Why would the 
fact that she was a woman and white always obtrude 
itself upon his consciousness? He hated her as he 
hated all her kind, and the fate that was sure to be 
hers was no more terrible than she in common with 
all her people deserved. The matter was settled and 
Tarzan composed himself to think of other things, 
yet the picture would not die — it rose in all its de- i 
tails and annoyed him. He began to wonder what | 
they were doing to her and where they were taking j 

her. He was very much ashamed of himself as he . | 
had been after the episode in Wilhelmstal when his I 
weakness had permitted him to spare this spy’s life. 
Was he to be thus weak again? No! 

Night came and he settled himself in an ample 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 143 


tree to rest until morning ; but sleep would not come. 
Instead came the vision of a white girl being beaten 
by black women, and again of the same girl at the 
mercy of the warriors somewhere in that dark and 
forbidding jungle. 

With a growl of anger and self-contempt Tarzan 
arose, shook himself and swung from his tree to 
that adjoining and thus, through the lower ter- 
races, he followed the trail that Usanga’s party had 
taken earlier in the afternoon. He had little diffi- 
culty as the band had followed a well-beaten path 
and when toward midnight the stench of a native 
village assailed his delicate nostrils he guessed that 
his goal was near and that presently he should find 
her whom he sought. 

Prowling stealthily as prowls Numa, the lion, 
stalking a wary prey, Tarzan moved noiselessly 
about the palisade, listening and sniffing. At the 
rear of the village he discovered a tree whose 
branches extended over the top of the palisade and 
a moment later he had dropped quietly into the 
village. 

From hut to hut he went searching with keen ears 
and nostrils some confirming evidence of the presence 
of the girl and at last, faint and almost obliterated 
by the odor of the Gomangani, he found it hanging 
like a delicate vapor about a small hut. The village 
was quiet now, for the last of the beer and the food 
had been disposed of and the blacks lay in their 
huts overcome by stupor, yet Tarzan made no noise 
that even a sober man keenly alert might have heard. 


144 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


He passed around to the entrance of the hut and 
listened. From within came no sound, not even 
the low breathing of one awake; yet he was sure 
that the girl had been here and perhaps was even 
now, and so he entered, slipping in as silently as a 
disembodied spirit. For a moment he stood motion- 
less just within the entranceway, listening. N6, 
there was no one here, of that he was sure, but he 
would investigate. As his eyes became accustomed 
to the greater darkness within the hut an object 
began to take form that presently outlined itself 
in a human form supine upon the floor. 

Tarzan stepped closer and leaned over to examine 
it — it was the dead body of a naked warrior from 
whose chest protruded a short spear. Then he 
searched carefully every square foot of the remain- 
ing floor space and at last returned to the body 
again where he stooped and smelled of the haft of 
the weapon that had slain the black. A slow smile 
touched his lips — that and a slight movement of his 
head betokened that he understood. 

A rapid search of the balance of the village as- 
sured him that the girl had escaped and a feeling 
of relief came over him that no harm had befallen 
her. That her life was equally in jeopardy in the 
savage jungle to which she must have flown did 
not impress him as it would have you or me, since 
to Tarzan the jungle was not a dangerous place — • 
he considered one safer there than in Paris or Lon- 
don by night. 

He had entered the trees again and was outside 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 145 


the palisade when there came faintly to his ears 
from far beyond the village an old, familiar sound. 
Balancing lightly upon a swaying branch he stood, 
a graceful statue of a forest god, listening intently. 
For a minute he stood thus and then there broke 
from his lips the long, weird cry of ape calling to 
ape and he was away through the jungle toward the 
sound of the booming drum of the anthropoids leav- 
ing behind him an awakened and terrified village of 
cringing blacks, who would forever after connect 
that eerie cry with the disappearance of their white 
prisoner and the death of their fellow-warrior. 

Bertha Kircher hurrying through the jungle along 
a well-beaten game trail thought only of putting as 
much distance as possible between herself and the 
village before daylight could permit pursuit of her. 
Whither she was going she did not know, nor was 
it a matter of great moment since death must be 
her lot sooner or later. 

Fortune favored her that night for she passed 
unscathed through as savage and lion-ridden an 
area as there is in all Africa — a natural hunting 
ground which the white man has not yet discovered, 
where deer and antelope and zebra, giraffe and ele- 
phant, buffalo, rhinoceros, and the other herbivo- 
rous animals of central Africa abound unmolested by 
none but their natural enemies, the great cats which, 
lured here by easy prey and immunity from the 
rifles of big-game hunters, swarm the district. 

She had fled for an hour or two, perhaps, when 


14)6 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


her attention was arrested by the sound of animals 
moving about, muttering and growling close ahead. 
Assured that she had covered a sufficient distance 
to insure her a good start in the morning before 
the blacks could take to her trail, and fearful of 
what the creatures might be, she climbed into a large 
tree with the intention of spending the balance of 
the night there. 

She had no sooner reached a safe and comfortable 
branch when she discovered that the tree stood upon 
the edge of a small clearing that had been hidden 
from her by the heavy undergrowth upon the ground 
below and simultaneously she discovered the identity 
of the beasts she had heard. 

In the center of the clearing below her, clearly 
visible in the bright moonlight, she saw fully twenty 
huge, manlike apes — great, shaggy fellows who 
went upon their hind feet with only slight assistance 
from the knuckles of their hands. The moonlight 
glanced from their glossy coats, the numerous gray- 
tipped hairs imparting a sheen that made the hide- 
ous creatures almost magnificent in their appearance. 

The girl had watched them but a minute or two 
when the little band was joined by others, com- 
ing singly and in groups until there were fully fifty 
of the great brutes gathered* there in the moonlight. 
Among them were young apes and several little ones 
clinging tightly to their mothers’ shaggy shoulders. 
Presently the group parted to form a circle about 
what appeared to be a small, flat-topped mound of 
earth in the center of the clearing. Sauatting close 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 147 


about this mound were three old females armed with 
short, heavy clubs with which they presently began 
to pound upon the flat top of the earth mound which 
gave forth a dull, booming sound and almost imme- 
diately the other apes commenced to move about 
restlessly, weaving in and out aimlessly until they 
carried the impression of a moving mass of great, 
black maggots. 

The beating of the drum was in a slow, ponder- 
ous cadence, at first without time but presently set- 
tling into a heavy rhythm to which the apes kept 
time with measured tread and swaying bodies. 
Slowly the mass separated into two rings, the outer 
of which was composed of shes and the very young, 
the inner of mature bulls. The former ceased to 
move and squatted upon their haunches, while the 
bulls now moved slowly about in a circle the center 
of which was the drum and all now in the same 
direction. 

It was then that there came faintly to the ears 
of the girl from the direction of the village she had 
recently quitted a weird and high-pitched cry. The 
effect upon the apes was electrical — they stopped 
their movements and stood in attitudes of intent 
listening for a moment and then one fellow, huger 
than his companions, raised his face to the heavens 
and in a voice that sent the cold shudders through 
the girl’s slight frame answered the far-off cry. 

Once again the beaters took up their drumming 
and the slow dance went on. There was a certain 
fascination in the savage ceremony that held the 


148 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


girl spellbound, and as there seemed little likeli- 
hood of her being discovered, she felt that she might 
as well remain the balance of the night in her tree 
and resume her flight by the comparatively greater 
safety of daylight. 

Assuring herself that her packet of papers was 
safe she sought as comfortable a position as possible 
among the branches, and settled herself to watch the 
weird proceedings in the clearing below her. 

A half-hour passed during which the cadence of 
the drum increased gradually. Now the great bull 
that had replied to the distant call leaped from the 
inner circle to dance alone between the drummers 
and the other bulls. He leaped and crouched and 
leaped again, now growling and barking, again stop- 
ping to raise his hideous face to Goro, the moon, and 
beating upon his shaggy breast uttered a piercing 
scream — the challenge of the bull ape, had the girl 
but known it. 

He stood thus in the full glare of the great moon, 
motionless after screaming forth his weird challenge, 
in the setting of the primeval jungle and the circling 
apes a picture of primitive savagery and power — a 
mightily muscled Hercules out of the dawn of life^ — 
when from close behind her the girl heard an answer- 
ing scream, and an instant later saw an almost naked 
white man drop from a near-by tree into the clearing. 

Instantly the apes became a roaring, snarling 
pack of angry beasts. Bertha Kircher held her 
breath. What maniac was this who dared approach 
these frightful creatures in their own haunts, alone 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 149 


against fifty? She saw the brown-skinned figure 
bathed in moonlight walk straight toward the snarl- 
ing pack. She saw the symmetry and the beauty of 
that perfect body — its grace, its strength, its 
wondrous proportioning, and then she recognized 
him. It was the same creature whom she had seen 
carry Major Schneider from General Kraut’s head- 
quarters, the same who had rescued her from Numa, 
the lion; the same whom she had struck down with 
the butt of her pistol and escaped when he would 
have returned her to her enemies, the same who had 
slain Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and spared her life 
that night in Wilhelmstal. 

Fear-filled and fascinated she watched him as he 
neared the apes. She heard sounds issue from his 
throat — ^sounds identical with those uttered by the 
apes — and though she could scarce believe the testi- 
mony of her own ears, she knew that this godlike 
creature was conversing with the brutes in their own 
tongue. 

Tarzan halted just before he reached the shes of 
the outer circle. ‘‘ I am Tarzan of the Apes ! ” he 
cried. “You do not know me because I am of 
another tribe; but Tarzan comes in peace or he 
comes to fight — which shall it be? Tarzan will talk 
with your king,” and so saying he pushed straight 
forward through the shes and the young who now 
gave way before him, making a narrow lane through 
which he passed toward the inner circle. 

Shes with balus growled and bristled as he passed 
close, but none hindered him and thus he came to the 


150 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


inner circle of bulls. Here bared fangs menaced him 
and growling faces hideously contorted. “ I am 
Tarzan,” he repeated. “ Tarzan comes to dance the 
Dum-Dum with his brothers. Where is your king.f*’^ 
Again he pressed forward and the girl in the tree 
clapped her palms to her cheeks as she watched, 
wide-eyed, this madman going to a frightful death. 
In another instant they would be upon him, rending 
and tearing until that perfect form had been ripped 
to shreds ; but again the ring parted and though 
the apes roared and menaced him they did not attack 
and at last he stood in the inner circle close to the 
drum and faced the great king ape. 

Again he spoke. ‘‘I am Tarzan of the Apes,’^ 
he cried. ‘‘Tarzan comes to live with his brother^. 
He will come in peace and live in peace or he will 
kill; but he has come and he will stay. Which — 
shall Tarzan dance the Dum-Dum in peace with his 
brothers, or shall Tarzan kill first 

“I am Go-lat, King of the Apes,” screamed the 
great bull. “I kill! I kill! I kill!” and with a 
sullen roar he charged the Tarmangani. 

The ape-man, as the girl watched him, seemed 
entirely unprepared for the charge and she looked to 
see him borne down and slain at the first rush. The 
great bull was almost upon him with huge hands 
outstretched to seize him before Tarzan made a 
move; but when he did move his quickness would 
have put Ara, the lightning, to shame. As darts 
forward the head of Histah, the snake, so darted 
forward the left hand of the man-beast as he seized 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 151 


the left wrist of his antagonist. A quick turn and 
the bull’s right arm was locked beneath the right 
arm of his foe in a jujutsu hold that Tarzan had 
learned among civilized men — a hold with which he 
might easily break the great bones, a hold that left 
the ape helpless. 

I am Tarzan of the Apes ! ” screamed the ape- 
man. “Shall Tarzan dance in peace or shall Tar- 
zan kill?” 

“ I kill ! I kill ! I kill ! ” shrieked Go-lat. 

With the quickness of a cat Tarzan swung the 
king ape over one hip and sent him sprawling to the 
ground. “ I am Tarzan, King of all the Apes ! ” he 
shouted. “Shall it be peace?” 

Go-lat, infuriated, leaped to his feet and charged 
again, shouting his war cry: “I kill! I kill! I 
kill ! ” and again Tarzan met him with a sudden hold 
that the stupid bull, being ignorant of, could not 
possibly avert — a hold and a throw that brought 
a scream of delight from the interested audience and 
suddenly filled the girl with doubts as to the man’s 
madness — evidently he was quite safe among the 
apes, for she saw him swing Go-lat to his back and 
then catapult him over his shoulder. The king ape 
fell upon his head and lay very still. 

“I am Tarzan of the Apes!” cried the ape-man. 
“ I come to dance the Dum-Dum with my brothers,” 
and he made a motion to the drummers who imme- 
diately took up the cadence of the dance where they 
had dropped it to watch their king slay the foolish 
Tarmangani. 


152 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


It was then that Go-lat raised his head and slowly 
crawled to his feet. Tarzan approached him. “ I 
am Tarzan of the Apes,” he cried. “ Shall Tarzan 
dance the Dum-Dum with his brothers now, or shall 
he kill first?” 

Go-lat raised his bloodshot eyes to the face of the 
Tarmangani. Kagoda!” he cried “Tarzan of the 
Apes will dance the Dum-Dum with his brothers and 
Go-lat will dance with him!” 

And then the girl in the tree saw the savage man 
leaping, bending, and stamping with the savage apes 
in the ancient rite of the Dum-Dum. His roars and 
growls were more beastly than the beasts. His 
handsome face was distorted with savage ferocity. 
He beat upon his great breast and screamed forth 
his challenge as his smooth, brown hide brushed the 
shaggy coats of his fellows. It was weird; it was 
wonderful ; and in its primitive savagery it was 
not without beauty — the strange scene she looked 
upon, such a scene as no other human being, prob- 
ably, ever had witnessed — and yet, withal, it was 
horrible. 

As she gazed, spell-bound, a stealthy movement in 
the tree behind her caused her to turn her head and 
there, back of her, blazing in the reflected moon- 
light shone two great, yellow-green eyes. Sheeta, 
the panther, had found her out. 

The beast was so close that it might have reached 
out and touched her with a great, taloned paw. 
There was no time to think, no time to weigh chances 
or to choose alternatives. Terror-inspired impulse 


TARZAN AND THE GREAT APES 153 


was her guide as, with a loud scream, she leaped from 
the tree into the clearing. 

Instantly the apes, now maddened by the effects 
of the dancing and the moonlight, turned to note the 
cause of the interruption. They saw this she Tar- 
mangani, helpless and alone and they started for 
her. Sheeta, the panther, knowing that not even 
Numa, the lion, unless maddened by starvation, dares 
meddle with the great apes at their Dum-Dum, had 
silently vanished into the night, seeking his supper 
elsewhere. 

Tarzan, turning with the other apes toward the 
cause of the interruption, saw the girl, recognized 
her and also her peril. Here again might she die 
at the hands of others ; but why consider it I He 
knew that he could not permit it, and though the 
acknowledgment shamed him, it had to be admitted. 

The leading shes were almost upon the girl when 
Tarzan leaped among them, and with heavy blows 
scattered them to right and left; and then as the 
bulls came to share in the kill they thought this new 
ape-thing was about to make that he might steal all 
the flesh for himself, they found him facing them 
with an arm thrown about the creature as though to 
protect her. 

‘‘Tli^s is Tarzan’s she,” he said. “Do not harm 
her.” It was the only way he could make them 
understand that they must not slay her. He was 
glad that she could not interpret the words. It was 
humiliating enough to make such a statement to wild 
apes about this hated enemy. 


154 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


So once again Tarzan of the Apes was forced to 
protect a Hun. Growling, he muttered to himself 
in extenuation: 

“ She is a woman and I am not a German, so it 
could not be otherwise ! ” 


CHAPTER IX 


DROPPED FROM THE SKY 



lEUTENANT Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, 


I j Royal Air Service, was on reconnaissance. A 
report, or it would be better to say a rumor, had 
come to the British headquarters in German East 
Africa that the enemy had landed in force on the 
west coast and was marching across the dark conti- 
nent to reinforce their colonial troops. In fact the 
new army was supposed to be no more than ten or 
twelve days march to the west. Of course the thing 
was ridiculous — preposterous — ^but preposterous 
things often happen in war; and anyway no good 
general permits the least rumor of enemy activity 
to go uninvestigated. 

Therefore Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Old- 
wick flew low toward the west searching with keen 
ej^es for signs of a Hun army. Vast forests unrolled 
beneath him in which a German army corps might 
have lain concealed, so dense was the overhanging 
foliage of the great trees. Mountain, meadowland, 
and desert passed in lovely panorama; but never a 
sight of man had the young lieutenant. 

Always hoping that he might discover some sign 
of their passage — a discarded lorry, a broken lim- 


155 


156 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


ber, or an old camp site — he continued farther and 
farther into the west until well into the afternoon, 
above a tree-dotted plain through the center of 
which flowed a winding river, he determined to turn 
about and start for camp. It would take straight 
flying at top speed to cover the distance before dark ; 
but as he had ample gasoline and a trustworthy 
machine there was no doubt in his mind but that 
he could accomplish his aim. It was then that his 
engine stalled. 

He was too low to do anything but land and 
that immediately while he had the more open coun- 
try accessible, for directly east of him was a vast 
forest into which a stalled engine could only have 
plunged him to certain injury and probable death; 
and so he came down in the meadowland near the 
winding river and there started to tinker with his 
motor. 

As he worked he hummed a tune, some music-hall 
air that had been popular in London the year before, 
so that one might have thought him working in the 
security of an English flying field surrounded by 
innumerable comrades rather than alone in the heart 
of an unexplored African wilderness. It was typical 
of the man that he should be wholly indifferent 
to his surroundings, although his looks entirely 
belied any assumption that he was of particularly 
heroic strain. 

Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was fair- 
haired, blue-eyed, and slender, with a rosy, boyish 
face that might have been molded more by an envi- 


DROPPED FROM THE SKY 


157 


ronment of luxury, indolence, and ease than the 
more strenuous exigencies of life’s sterner require- 
ments. 

And not only was the young lieutenant outwardly 
careless of the immediate future and of his sur- 
roundings, but actually so. That the district might 
be infested by countless enemies seemed not to have 
occurred to him in the remotest degree. He bent 
assiduously to the work of correcting the adjustment 
that had caused his motor to stall without so much 
as an upward glance at the surrounding country. 
The forest to the east of him, and the more distant 
jungle that bordered the winding river, might have 
harbored an army of bloodthirsty savages, but 
neither could elicit even a passing show of interest 
on the part of Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick. 

And even had he looked, it is doubtful if he would 
have seen the score of figures crouching in the con- 
cealment of the undergrowth at the forest’s edge. 
There are those who are reputed to be endowed with 
that which is sometimes, for want of a better appella- 
tion, known as the sixth sense — 'a species of intui- 
tion which apprises them of the presence of an unseen 
danger. The concentrated gaze of a hidden observer 
provokes a warning sensation of nervous unrest in 
such as these, but though twenty pairs of savage 
eyes were gazing fixedly at Lieutenant Harold Percy 
Smith-Oldwick, the fact aroused no responsive sen- 
sation of impending danger in his placid breast. 
He hummed peacefully and, his adjustment com- 
pleted, tried out his motor for a minute or two. 


158 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


then shut it off and descended to the ground with the 
intention of stretching his legs and taking a smoke 
before continuing his return flight to camp. Now 
for the first time he took note of his surroundings 
to be immediately impressed by both the wildness 
and the beauty of the scene. In some respects the 
tree-dotted meadowland reminded him of a parklike 
English forest, and that wild beasts and savage men 
could ever be a part of so quiet a scene seemed the 
remotest of contingencies. 

Some gorgeous blooms upon a flowering shrub 
at a little distance from his machine caught the 
attention of his aesthetic eye and as he puffed upon 
his cigarette, he walked over to examine the flowers 
more closely. As he bent above them he was prob- 
ably some hundred yards from his plane and it was 
at this instant that Numabo, chief of the Wamabo, 
chose to leap from his ambush and lead his warriors 
in a sudden rush upon the white man. 

The young Englishman’s first intimation of 
danger was a chorus of savage yells from the forest 
behind him. Turning, he saw a score of naked, black 
warriors advancing rapidly toward him. They 
moved in a compact mass and as they approached 
more closely their rate of speed noticeably 
diminished. Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick realized in 
a quick glance that the direction of their approach 
and their proximity had cut off all chances of re- 
treating to his plane, and he also understood that 
their attitude was entirely warlike and menacing. 
He saw that they were armed with cr^ears and with 


DROPPED FROM THE SKY 


159 


bows and arrows, and he felt quite confident that 
notwithstanding the fact that he was armed with a 
pistol, they could overcome him with the first rush. 
What he did not know about their tactics was that 
at any show of resistance they would fall back, 
which is the nature of the native Negroes but that 
after numerous advances and retreats, during which 
they would work themselves into a frenzy of rage by 
much shrieking, leaping, and dancing, they would 
eventually come to the point of a determined and 
final assault. 

Numabo was in the forefront, a fact which taken 
in connection with his considerably greater size and 
more warlike appearance, indicated him as the nat- 
ural target and it was at Numabo that the English- 
man aimed his first shot. Unfortunately for him it 
missed its target, as the killing of the chief might 
have permanently dispersed the others. The bullet 
passed Numabo to lodge in the breast of a warrior 
behind him and as the fellow lunged forward with a 
scream the others turned and retreated, but to the 
lieutenant’s chagrin they ran in the direction of the 
plane instead of back toward the forest so that he 
was still cut ofP from reaching his machine. 

Presently they stopped and faced him again. 
They were talking loudly and gesticulating, and 
after a moment one of them leaped into the air, 
brandishing his spear and uttering savage war cries, 
which soon had their effect upon his fellows so that 
it was not long ere all of them were taking part in 
the wild show of savagery, which would bolster their 


160 TARZAN THE UNTAMED 

•*» - — 

waning courage and presently spur them on to an- 
other attack. 

The second charge brought them closer to the 
Englishman, and though he dropped another with 
his pistol, it was not before two or three spears 
had been launched at him. He now had five shots 
remaining and there were still eighteen warriors to 
be accounted for, so that unless he could frighten 
them off, it was evident that his fate was sealed. 

That they must pay the price of one life for every 
attempt to take his had its effect upon them and 
they were longer now in initiating a new rush and 
when they did so it was more skilfully ordered than 
those that had preceded it, for they scattered into 
three bands which partially surrounding him, came 
simultaneously toward him from different directions, 
and though he emptied his pistol with good effect, 
they reached him at last. They seemed to know that 
bis ammunition was exhausted, for they circled close 
about him now with the evident intention of taking 
him alive, since they might easily have riddled him 
with their sharp spears with perfect safety to them- 
selves. 

For two or three minutes they circled about him 
until at a word from Numabo, they closed in simul- 
taneously and though the slender young lieutenant 
struck out to right and left, he was soon over- 
whelmed by superior numbers and beaten down by 
the hafts of spears in brawny hands. 

He was all but unconscious when they finally drag- 
ged him to his feet, and after securing his hands 


DROPPED PROM THE SKY 


161 


behind his back, pushed him roughly along ahead 
of them toward the jungle. 

As the guard prodded him along the narrow trail, 
Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick could not but wonder why 
they had wished to take him alive. He knew that 
he was too far inland for his uniform to have any 
significance to this native tribe to whom no inkling 
of the World War probably ever had come, and he 
could only assume that he had fallen into the hands 
of the warriors of some savage potentate upon whos® 
royal caprice his fate would hinge. 

They had marched for perhaps half an hour when 
the Englishman saw ahead of them in a little clear- 
ing upon the bank of the river, the thatched roofs 
of native huts showing above a crude but strong 
palisade; and presently he was ushered into a vil- 
lage street where he was immediately surrounded by 
a throng of women and children and warriors. Here 
he was soon the center of an excited mob whose 
intent seemed to be to dispatch him as quickly as 
possible. The women were more venomous than the 
men, striking and scratching him whenever they 
could reach him until at last Numabo, the chief, 
was obliged to interfere to save his prisoner for 
whatever purpose he was destined. 

As the warriors pushed the crowd back, opening 
a space through which the white man was led toward 
a hut. Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick saw coming from 
the opposite end of the village a number of Negroes 
wearing odds and ends of German imiforms. He was 
not a little surprised at this, and his first thought 


162 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


was that he had at last come in contact with some 
portion of the army which was rumored to be cross- 
ing from the west coast and for signs of which he 
had been searching. 

A rueful smile touched his lips as he contemplated 
the unhappy circumstances which surrounded the 
accession of this knowledge for though he was far 
from being without hope, he realized that only by 
the merest chance could he escape these people and 
regain his machine. 

Among the partially uniformed blacks was a huge 
fellow in the tunic of a sergeant and as this man’s 
eyes fell upon the British officer, a loud cry of ex- 
ultation broke from his lips, and immediately his fol- 
lowers took up the cry and pressed forward to bait 
the prisoner. 

“Where did you get the Englishman ” asked 
Usanga, the black sergeant, of the chief Numabo. 
“Are there many more with him.?” 

“ He came down from the sky,” replied the native 
chief, “ in a strange thing which flies like a bird and 
which frightened us very much at first; but we 
watched for a long time and saw that it did not 
seem to be alive, and when this white man left it 
we attacked him and though he killed some of my 
warriors, we took him, for we Wamabos are brave 
men and great warriors.” 

Usanga’s eyes went wide. “ He flew here through 
the sky.?” he asked. 

“Yes,” said Numabo. “In a great thing which 
resembled a bird he flew down out of the sky. The 


DROPPED FROM THE SKY 


163 


thing is still there where it came down close to the 
four trees near the second bend in the river. We 
left it there because, not knowing what it was, 
we were afraid to touch it and it is still there if it 
has not flown away again.” 

“It cannot fly,” said Usanga, “without this man 
in it. It is a terrible thing which filled the hearts 
of our soldiers with terror, for it flew over our 
camps at night and dropped bombs upon us. It is 
well that you captured this white man, Numabo, for 
with his great bird he would have flown over your 
village tonight and killed all your people. These 
Englishmen are very wicked white men.” 

“ He will fly no more,” said Numabo. “ It is not 
intended that a man should fly through the air; only 
wicked demons do such things as that and Numabo, 
the chief, will see that this white man does not do it 
again,” and with the words he pushed the young offi- 
cer roughly toward a hut in the center of the village 
where he was left under guard of two stalwart 
warriors. 

For an hour or more the prisoner was left to his 
own devices, which consisted in vain and unremitting 
attempts to loosen the strands which fettered his 
wrists, and then he was interrupted by the appear- 
ance of the black sergeant Usanga, who entered his 
hut and approached him. 

“ What are they going to do with me ” asked the 
Englishman. “ My country is not at war with these 
people. You speak their language. Tell them that 
I am not an enemy, that my people are the friends 


164i 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


of the black people and that they must let me go 
in peace.” 

Usanga laughed. ‘‘ They do not know an English- 
man from a German,” he replied. ‘‘ It is nothing to 
them what you are, except that you are a white 
man and an enemy.” 

‘‘Then why did they take me alive.?” asked the 
lieutenant. 

“Come,” said Usanga and he led the Englishman 
to the doorway of the hut. “Look,” he said, and 
pointed a black forefinger toward the end of the vil- 
lage street where a wider space between the huts left 
a sort of plaza. 

Here Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick saw 
a number of Negresses engaged in laying fagots 
around a stake and in preparing fires beneath a 
number of large cooking vessels. The sinister sug- 
gestion was only too obvious. 

Usanga was eyeing the white man closely, but if 
he expected to be rewarded by any signs of fear, 
he was doomed to disappointment and the young 
lieutenant merely turned toward him with a shrug: 
“ Really now, do you beggars intend eating me .? ” 

“Not my people,” replied Usanga, “We do not 
eat human flesh, but the Wamabos do. It is they 
who will eat you, but we will kill you for the feast, 
Englishman.” 

The Englishman remained standing in the door- 
way of the hut, an interested spectator of the prep- 
arations for the coming orgy that was so horribly 
to terminate his earthly existence. It can hardly be 


DROPPED FROM THE SKY 


165 


assumed that he felt no fear, yet if he did, he hid it 
perfectly beneath an imperturbable mask of coolness. 
Even the brutal Usanga must have been impressed 
by the bravery of his victim since, though he had 
come to abuse and possibly to torture the helpless 
prisoner, he now did neither contenting himself 
merely with berating whites as a race, and English- 
men especially, because of the terror the British 
aviators had caused Germany’s native troops in East 
Africa. 

“No more,” he concluded, “will your great bird 
fly over our people dropping death among them from 
the skies — Usanga will see to that,” and he walked 
abruptly away toward a group of his own fighting 
men who were congregated near the stake where they 
were laughing and joking with the women. 

A few minutes later the Englishman saw them pass 
out of the village gate, and once again his thoughts 
reverted to various futile plans for escape. 

Several miles north of the village on a little rise 
of ground close to the river where the jungle, halting 
at the base of a knoll, had left a few acres of grassy 
land sparsely wooded, a man and a girl were busily 
engaged in constructing a small boma in the center 
of which a thatched hut already had been erected. 

They worked almost in silence with only an occa- 
sional word of direction or interrogation between 
them. 

Except for a loin cloth, the man was naked, his 
smooth skin tanned to a deep brown by the action- 


166 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


of sun and wind. He moved with the graceful ease 
of a jungle cat and when he lifted heavy weights, the 
action seemed as effortless as the raising of empty 
hands. 

When he was not looking at her and it was seldom 
that he did, the girl found her eyes wandering toward 
him and at such times there was always a puzzled 
expression upon her face as though she found in him 
an enigma which she could not solve. As a matter 
of fact, her feelings toward him were not untinged 
with awe, since in the brief period of their association 
she had discovered in this handsome, godlike giant 
the attributes of the superman and the savage beast 
closely intermingled. At first she had felt only that 
unreasoning feminine terror which her unhappy 
position naturally induced. 

To be alone in the heart of an unexplored wilder- 
ness of Central Africa with a savage wild man was 
in itself sufficiently appalling but to feel also that 
this man was a blood enemy, that he hated her and 
her kind and that in addition thereto he owed her 
a personal grudge for an attack she had made upon 
him in the past, left no loophole for any hope that 
he might accord her even the minutest measure of 
consideration. 

She had seen him first months since when he had 
entered the headquarters of the German high com- 
mand in East Africa and carried off the luckless 
Major Schneider, of whose fate no hint had ever 
reached the German officers; and she had seen him 
again upon that occasion when he had rescued her 


DROPPED FROM THE SKY 


167 


from the clutches of the lion and after explaining to 
her that he had recognized her in the British camp, 
had made her prisoner. It was then that she had 
struck him down with the butt of her pistol and es- 
caped. That he might seek no personal revenge 
for her act, had been evidenced in Wilhelms tal the 
night that he had killed Hauptmann Fritz Schneider 
and left without molesting her. 

No, she could not fathom him. He hated her and 
at the same time he had protected her as had been 
evidenced again when he had kept the great apes 
from tearing her to pieces after she had escaped 
from the Wamabo village to which Usanga, the black 
sergeant, had brought her a captive; but why was 
he saving her.?^ For what sinister purpose could this 
savage enemy be protecting her from the other deni- 
zens of his cruel jungle. She tried to put from her 
mind the probable fate which awaited her, yet it 
persisted in obtruding itself upon her thoughts, 
though always she was forced to admit that there 
was nothing in the demeanor of the man to indicate 
that her fears were well grounded. She judged him 
perhaps by the standards other men had taught her 
and because she looked upon him as a savage crea- 
ture, she felt that she could not expect more of 
chivalry from him than w^s to be found in the 
breasts of the civilized men of her acquaintance. 

Fraulein Bertha Kircher was by nature a com- 
panionable and cheerful character. She was not 
given to morbid forebodings and above all things, 
she craved the society of her kind and that inter- 


168 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


change of thought which is one of the marked dis- 
tinctions between man and the lower animals, 
Tarzan, on the other hand, was sufficient unto him- 
self. Long years of semi-solitude among creatures 
whose powers of oral expression are extremely 
limited, had thrown him almost entirely upon his 
Qwn resources for entertainment. 

His active mind was never idle, but because his 
jungle mates could neither follow nor grasp the vivid 
train of imaginings that his man-mind wrought, he 
had long since learned to keep them to himself ; and 
so now he found no need for confiding them in others. 
This fact, linked with that of his dislike for the 
girl, was sufficient to seal his lips for other than 
necessary conversation, and so they worked on to- 
gether in comparative silence. Bertha Kircher, 
however, was nothing if not feminine and she soon 
found that having someone to talk to who would not 
talk was extremely irksome. Her fear of the man 
was gradually departing, and she was full of a 
thousand unsatisfied curiosities as to his plans for 
the future in so far as they related to her, as well 
as more personal questions regarding himself, since 
she could not but wonder as to his antecedents and 
his strange and solitary life in the jungle, as well 
as his friendly intercourse with the savage apes 
among which she had found him. 

With the waning of her fears she became suffi- 
ciently emboldened to question him, and so she asked 
him what he intended doing after the hut and boma 
were completed. 


DROPPED FROM THE SKY 


169 


“ I am going to the west coast where I was born,” 
replied Tarzan. “I do not know when. I have all 
my life before me and in the jungle there is no 
reason for haste. We are not forever running as 
fast as we can from one place to another as are 
you of the outer world. When I have been here 
long enough I will go on toward the west, but first 
I must see that you have a safe place in which to 
sleep, and that you have learned how to provide 
yourself with necessaries. That will take time.” 

^‘You are going to leave me here alone?” cried 
the girl; her tones marked the fear which the pros- 
pect induced. “You are going to leave me here 
alone in this terrible jungle, a prey to wild beasts 
and savage men, hundreds of miles from a white set- 
tlement and in a country which gives every evidence 
of never having been touched by the foot of civilized 
man ? ” 

“ Why not ? ” asked Tarzan. “ I did not bring 
you here. Would one of your men accord any bet- 
ter treatment to an enemy woman?” 

“Yes,” she exclaimed. “They certainly would. 
No man of my race would leave a defenseless white 
woman alone in this horrible place.” 

Tarzan shrugged his broad shoulders. The con- 
versation seemed profitless and it was further dis- 
tasteful to him for the reason that it was carried 
on in German, a tongue which he detested as much 
as the people who spoke it. He wished that the 
girl spoke English and then it occurred to him that 
as he had seen her in disguise in the British camp 


170 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


carrying on her nefarious work as a German spy, 
she probably did speak English and so he asked her, 

“ Of course I speak English,” she exclaimed, “ but 
I did not know that you did.” 

Tarzan looked his wonderment but made no com- 
ment. He only wondered why the girl should have 
any doubts as to the ability of an Englishman to 
speak English, and then suddenly it occurred to him 
that she probably looked upon him merely as a beast 
of the jungle who by accident had learned to speak 
German through frequenting the district which Ger- 
many had colonized. It was there only that she 
had seen him and so she might not know that he 
was an Englishman by birth, and that he had had 
a home in British East Africa. It was as well, he 
thought, that she knew little of him, as the less she 
knew the more he might learn from her as to her 
activities in behalf of the Germans and of the Ger- 
man spy system of which she was a representative; 
and so it occurred to him to let her continue to 
think that he was only what he appeared to be — 
a savage denizen of his savage jungle, a man of 
no race and no country, hating all white men im- 
partially; and this in truth, was what she did think 
of him. It explained perfectly his attacks upon 
Major Schneider and the Major’s brother, Haupt- 
mann Fritz. 

Again they worked on in silence upon the boma 
v/hich was now nearly completed, the girl helping 
the man to the best of her small ability. Tarzan 
could not but note with grudging approval the spirit 


DROPPED FROM THE SKY 


171 


of helpfulness she manifested in the ofttimes painful 
labor of gathering and arranging the thorn bushes 
which constituted the temporary protection against 
roaming carnivora. Her hands and arms gave 
bloody token of the sharpness of the numerous 
points that had lacerated her soft flesh, and even 
though she were an enemy, Tarzan could not but 
feel compunction that he had permitted her to do 
this work and at last he bade her stop. 

“Why?” she asked, “it is no more painful to me 
than it must be to you and, as it is solely for my 
protection that you are building this boma, there 
is no reason why I should not do my share.” 

'^You are a woman,” replied Tarzan. “This is 
not a woman’s work. If you wish to do something, 
take those gourds I brought this morning and fill 
them with water at the river. You may need it 
while I am away.” 

“While you are away — ” she said, “you are 
going away?” 

“When the boma is built I am going out after 
meat,” he replied. “ Tomorrow I will go again and 
take you and show you how you may make your own 
kills after I am gone.” 

Without a word she took the gourds and walked 
toward the river. As she filled them her mind was 
occupied with painful forebodings of the future. She 
knew that Tarzan had passed a death sentence upon 
her, and that the moment that he left her, her doom 
was sealed for it could be but a question of time — 
a very short time — before the grim jungle would 


in 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


claim her, for how could a lone woman hope suc- 
cessfully to combat the savage forces of destruction 
which constituted so large a part of existence in the 
jungle. 

So occupied was she with the gloomy prophecies 
that she had neither ears nor eyes for what went 
on about her. Mechanically she filled the gourds 
and taking them up, turned slowly to retrace her 
steps to the boma only to voice immediately a half- 
stifled scream, and shrink back from the menacing 
figure looming before her and blocking her way to 
the hut. 

Go-lat, the king ape, hunting a little apart from 
his tribe, had seen the woman go to the river for 
water, and it was he who confronted her when she 
turned back with her filled gourds. Go-lat was 
not a pretty creature when judged by standards of 
civilized humanity, though the shes of his tribe and 
even Go-lat himself, considered his glossy black 
coat shot with silver, his huge arms dangling to 
his knees, his bullet head sunk between his mighty 
shoulders, marks of great personal beauty. His 
wicked, bloodshot eyes and broad nose, his ample 
mouth and great fighting fangs only enhanced the 
claim of this Adonis of the forest upon the affections 
of his shes. 

Doubtless in the little, savage brain there was a 
well-formed conviction that this strange she be- 
longing to the Tarmangani must look with admira- 
tion upon so handsome a creature as Go-lat, for 
there could be no doubt in the mind of any that his 


DROPPED FROM THE SKY 


173 


beauty entirely eclipsed such as the hairless white 
ape might lay claim to. 

But Bertha Kircher saw only a hideous beast, a 
fierce and terrible caricature of man. Could Go-lat 
have known what passed through her mind, he must 
have been terribly chagrined, though the chances 
are that he would have attributed it to a lack of 
discernment on her part. Tarzan heard the girl’s 
cry and looking up saw at a glance the cause of 
her terror. Leaping lightly over the boma, he ran 
swiftly toward her as Go-lat lumbered closer to the 
girl the while he voiced his emotions in low gutturals 
which, while in reality the most amicable of advances, 
sounded to the girl like the growling of an enraged 
beast. As Tarzan drew nearer, he called aloud to 
the ape and the girl heard from the human lips 
the same sounds that had fallen from those of the 
anthropoid. 

“I will not harm your she,” Go-lat called to 
Tarzan. 

“ I know it,” replied the ape-man, ‘‘ but she does 
not. She is like Numa and Sheet a who do not under- 
stand our talk. She thinks you come to harm her.” 

By this time Tarzan was beside the girl. “He 
will not harm you,” he said to her. “ You need not 
be afraid. This ape has learned his lesson. He has 
learned that Tarzan is lord of the jungle. He will 
not harm that which is Tarzan’s.” 

The girl cast a quick glance at the man’s face. 
It was evident to her that the words he had spoken 
meant nothing to him and that the assumed pro- 


174 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


prietorship over her was, like the boma, only another 
means for her protection. 

“But I am afraid of him,” she said. 

“You must not show your fear. You will b« 
often surrounded by these apes. At such times you 
will be safest. Before I leave you I will give you 
the means of protecting yourself against them should 
one of them chance to turn upon you. If I were 
you I would seek their society. Few are the animals 
of the jungle that dare attack the great apes when 
there are several of them together. If you let them 
know that you are afraid of them, they will take 
advantage of it and your life will be constantly 
menaced. The shes especially would attack you. I 
will let them know that you have the means of pro- 
tecting yourself and of killing them. If necessary, 
I will show you how and then they will respect and 
fear you.” 

“ I will try,” said the girl, “ but I am afraid that 
it will be difficult. He is the most frightful creature 
I ever have seen.” 

Tarzan smiled. “Doubtless he thinks the same 
of you,” he said. 

By this time other apes had entered the clearing 
and they were now the center of a considerable 
group, among which were several bulls, some young 
shes, and some older ones with their little balus 
clinging to their backs or frolicking around at their 
feet. Though they had seen the girl the night of 
the Dum-Dum when Sheet a had forced her to leap 
from her concealment into the arena where the apes 


DROPPED FROM THE SKY 


175 


were dancing, they still evinced a great curiosity re- 
garding her. Some of the shes came very close and 
plucked at her garments commenting upon them to 
one another in their strange tongue. The girl by the 
exercise of all the willpower she could command 
succeeded in passing through the ordeal without 
evincing any of the terror and revulsion that she 
felt. Tarzan watched her closely, a half-smile upon 
his face. He was not so far removed from recent 
contact with civilized people that he could not realize 
the torture that she was undergoing, but he felt no 
pity for this woman of a cruel enemy who doubtless 
deserved the worst suffering that could be meted to 
her. Yet, notwithstanding his sentiments toward 
her, he was forced to admire her fine display of 
courage. Suddenly he turned to the apes. 

‘‘Tarzan goes to hunt for himself and his she,” 
he said. “ The she will remain there,” and he pointed 
toward the hut. “ See that no member of the tribe 
harms her. Do you understand?” 

The apes nodded. “We will not harm her,” said 
Go-lat. 

“No,” said Tarzan. “You will not. For if you 
do, Tarzan will kill you,” and then turning to the 
girl, “Come,” he said, “I am going to hunt now. 
You had better remain at the hut. The apes have 
promised not to harm you. I will leave my spear 
with you. It will be the best weapon you could have 
in case you should need to protect yourself, but I 
doubt if you will be in any danger for the short 
time that I am away.” 


176 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


He walked with her as far as the boma and when 
she had entered he closed the gap with thorn bushes 
and turned away toward the forest. She watched 
him moving across the clearing, noting the easy, 
catlike tread and the grace of every movement that 
harmonized so well with the symmetry and perfec- 
tion of his figure. At the forest’s edge she saw him 
swing lightly into a tree and disappear from view 
and then, being a woman, she entered the hut and 
throwing herself upon the ground, burst into tears. 


CHAPTER X 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 

T ARZAN sought Bara, the deer, or Horta, the 
boar, for of all the jungle animals he doubted 
if any would prove more palatable to the white 
woman, but though his keen nostrils were ever on 
the alert, he traveled far without being rewarded 
with even the faintest scent spoor of the game he 
sought. Keeping close to the river where he hoped 
to find Bara or Horta approaching or leaving a 
drinking place he came at last upon the strong odor 
of the Wamabo village and being ever ready to pay 
his hereditary enemies, the Gomangani, an undesired 
visit, he swung into a detour and came up in the 
rear of the village. From a tree which overhung 
the palisade he looked down into the street where 
he saw the preparations going on which his experience 
told him indicated the approach of one of those 
frightful feasts, the piece de resistance of which is 
human flesh. 

One of Tarzan’s chief divertisements was the bait- 
ing of the blacks. He realized more keen enjoyment 
through annoying and terrifying them than from any 
other source of amusement the grim jungle offered. 
To rob them of their feast in some way that would 
177 


178 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


strike terror to their hearts would give him the 
keenest of pleasure, and so he searched the village 
with his eyes for some indication of the whereabouts 
of the prisoner. His view was circumscribed by the 
dense foliage of the tree in which he sat, and so 
that he might obtain a better view, he climbed further 
aloft and moved cautiously out upon a slender 
branch. 

Tarzan of the Apes possessed a woodcraft scarcely 
short of the marvelous but even Tarzan’s wondrous 
senses were not infallible. The branch upon which 
he made his way outward from the bole was no 
smaller than many that had borne his weight upon 
countless other occasions. Outwardly it appeared 
strong and healthy and was in full foliage, nor could 
Tarzan know that close to the stem 9 burrowing 
insect had eaten away half the heart of the solid 
wood beneath the bark. 

And so when he reached a point far out upon the 
limb, it snapped close to the bole of the tree without 
warning. Below him were no larger branches that 
he might clutch and as he lunged downward his foot 
caught in a looped creeper so that he turned com- 
pletely over and alighted on the flat of his back 
in the center of the village street. 

At the sound of the breaking limb and the crash- 
ing body falling through the branches the startled 
blacks scurried to their huts for weapons, and when 
the braver of them emerged, they saw the still form 
of an almost naked white man lying where he had 
fallen. Emboldened by the fact that he did not 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 179 


move they approached more closely, and when their 
eyes discovered no signs of others of his kind in the 
tree, they rushed forward until a dozen warriors 
stood about him with ready spears. At first they 
thought that the falling had killed him, but upon 
closer examination they discovered that the man 
was only stunned. One of the warriors was for 
thrusting a spear through his heart, but Numabo, 
the chief, would not permit it. 

‘‘Bind him,” he said. “We will feed well to- 
night.” 

And so they bound his hands and feet with thongs 
of gut and carried him into the hut where Lieutenant 
Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick awaited his fate. The 
Englishman had also been bound hand and foot by 
this time for fear that at the last moment he might 
escape and rob them of their feast. A great crowd 
of natives were gathered about the hut attempting 
to get a glimpse of the new prisoner, but Numabo 
doubled the guard before the entrance for fear that 
some of his people, in the exuberance of their savage 
joy, might rob the others of the pleasures of the 
death dance which would precede the killing of the 
victims. 

The young Englishman had heard the sound of 
Tarzan’s body crashing through the tree to the 
ground and the commotion in the village which imme- 
diately followed, and now as he stood with his back 
against the wall of the hut, he looked upon the fel- 
low-prisoner that the blacks carried in and laid 
upon the floor with mixed feelings of surprise and 


180 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


compassion. He realized that he never had seen 
a more perfect specimen of manhood than that of 
the unconscious figure before him and he wondered 
to what sad circumstance the man owed his capture. 
It was evident that the new prisoner was himself as 
much a savage as his captors if apparel and weapons 
were any criterion by which to judge, yet it was 
also equally evident that he was a white man and 
from his well-shaped head and clean-cut features 
that he was not one of those unhappy half-wits who 
so often revert to savagery even in the heart of 
civilized communities. 

As he watched the man, he presently noticed that 
his eyelids were moving. Slowly they opened and 
a pair of gray eyes looked blankly about. With re- 
turning consciousness the eyes assumed their natural 
expression of keen intelligence and a moment later, 
with an effort, the prisoner rolled over upon his 
side and drew himself to a sitting position. He was 
facing the Englishman and as his eyes took in the 
bound ankles and the arms drawn tightly behind 
the other’s back, a slow smile lighted his features. 

‘‘ They will fill their bellies tonight,” he said. 

The Englishman grinned. “From the fuss they 
made,” he said, “the beggars must be awfully hun- 
gry. They like to have eaten me alive when they 
brought me in. How did they get you ? ” 

Tarzan shrugged his head ruefully. “It was my 
own fault,” he replied. “I deserve to be eaten. I 
crawled out upon a branch that would not bear my 
weight and when it broke, instead of alighting op 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 181 


my feet, I caught my foot in a trailer and came down 
on my , head. Otherwise they would not have taken 
me — alive.” 

‘‘ Is there no escape ? ” asked the Englishman. 

‘‘I have escaped them before,” replied Tarzan, 
“and I have seen others escape them. I have seen 
a man taken away from the stake after a dozen 
spear thrusts had pierced his body and the fire had 
been lighted about his feet.” 

Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick shuddered. “ God ! ” 
he exclaimed, “ I hope I don’t have to face that. I 
believe I could stand anything but the thought of 
the fire. I should hate like the devil to go into a 
funk before the devils at the last moment.” 

“Don’t worry,” said Tarzan. “It doesn’t last 
long and you won’t funk. It is really not half as bad 
as it sounds. There is only a brief period of pain 
before you lose consciousness. I have seen it many 
times before. It is as good a way tp go as another. 
We must die sometime. What diiference whether it 
be tonight, tomorrow night, or a year hence, just 
so that we have lived — and. I have lived!” 

“Your philosophy may be all right, old top,” 
said the young lieutenant, “but I can’t say that it 
is exactly satisfying.” 

Tarzan laughed. “ Roll over here,” he said, 
“where I can get at your bonds with my teeth.” 
The Englishman did as he was bid and presently 
Tarzan was working at the thongs with his strong 
white teeth. He felt them giving slowly beneath his 
efforts. In another moment they would part, and 


182 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


then it would be a comparatively simple thing for 
the Englishman to remove the remaining bonds from 
Tarzan and himself. 

It was then that one of the guards entered the 
hut. In an instant he saw what the new prisoner 
was doing and raising his spear, struck the ape-man 
a vicious blow across the head with its haft. Then 
he called in the other guards and together they fell 
upon the luckless men, kicking and beating them un- 
mercifully after which they bound the Englishman 
more securely than before and tied both men fast on 
opposite sides of the hut. When they had gone 
Tarzan looked across at his companion in misery. 

“While there is life,” he said, “there is hope,” 
but he grinned as he voiced the ancient truism. 

Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick returned 
the other’s smile. “ I fancy,” he said, “ that we are 
getting short on both. It must be close to supper 
time now.” 

Zu-tag hunted alone far from the balance of the 
tribe of Go-lat, the great ape. Zu-tag (Big-neck) 
was a young bull but recently arrived at maturity. 
He was large, powerful, and ferocious and at the 
same time far above the average of his kind in intel- 
ligence as was denoted by a fuller and less receding 
forehead. Already Go-lat saw in this young ape a 
possible contender for the laurels of his kingship 
and consequently the old bull looked upon Zu-tag 
with jealousy and disfavor. It was for this reason, 
possibly, as much as another that Zu-tag hunted so 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 183 


often alone; but it was his utter fearlessness that 
permitted him to wander far afield away from the 
protection which numbers gave the great apes. One 
of the results of this habit was a greatly increased 
resourcefulness which found him constantly grow- 
ing in intelligence and powers of observation. 

Today he had been hunting toward the south and 
was returning along the river upon a path he often 
followed because it led by the village of the Goman- 
gani whose strange and almost apelike actions and 
peculiar manners of living had aroused his interest 
and curiosity. As he had done upon other occasions 
he took up his position in a tree from which he could 
overlook the interior of the village and watch the 
blacks at their vocations in the street below. 

Zu-tag had scarcely more than established him- 
self in his tree when, with the blacks, he was startled 
by the crashing of Tarzan’s body from the branches 
of another jungle giant to the ground within the 
palisade. He saw the Negroes gather about the 
prostrate form and later carry it into the hut ; and 
once he rose to his full height upon the limb where 
he had been squatting and raised his face to the 
heavens to scream out a savage protest and a chal- 
lenge, for he had recognized in the brown-skinned 
Tarmangani the strange white ape who had come 
among them a night or two before in the midst of 
their Dum-Dum, and who by so easily mastering the 
greatest among them, had won the savage respect 
and admiration of this fierce young bull. 

But Zu-tag’s ferocity was tempered by a certain 


184 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


native cunning and caution. Before he had voiced 
his protest there formed in hi« mind the thought 
that he would like to save this tvonderful white ape 
from the common enemy, the Gomangani, and so he 
screamed forth no challenge, wisely determining that 
more could be accomplished by secrecy and stealth 
than by force of muscle and fang. 

At first he thought to enter the village alone and 
carry off the Tarmangani; but when he saw how 
numerous were the warriors and that several sat di- 
rectly before the entrance to the lair into which the 
prisoner had been carried, it occurred to him that 
this was work for many rather than one and so, as 
silently as he had come, he slipped away through 
the foliage toward the north. 

The tribe was still loitering about the clearing 
where stood the hut that Tarzan and Bertha Kirchei 
had built. Some were idly searching for food jus*^ 
within the forest’s edge, while others squatted be 
neath the shade of trees within the clearing. 

The girl had emerged from the hut, her tears dried 
and was gazing anxiously toward the south into the 
jungle where Tarzan had disappeared. Occasionally 
she cast suspicious glances in the direction of the 
huge shaggy anthropoids about her. How easy it 
would be for one of those great beasts to enter the 
boma and slay her. How helpless she was, even with 
the spear that the white man had left her, she realized 
ds she noted for the thousandth time the massive 
shoulders, the bull necks, and the great muscles glid; 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 185 


mg so easily beneath the glossy coats. Never, she 
thought, had she seen such personifications of brute 
power as were represented by these mighty bulls. 
Those huge hands would snap her futile spear as 
she might snap a match in two, while their lightest 
blow could crush her into insensibility and death. 

It was while she was occupied with these depress- 
ing thoughts that there dropped suddenly into the 
clearing from the trees upon the south the figure 
of a mighty young bull. At that time all of the 
apes looked much alike to Bertha Kircher, nor was 
it until some time later that she realized that each 
differed from the others in individual characteristics 
of face and figure as do individuals of the human 
races. Yet even then she could not help but note 
the wondrous strength and agility of this great beast, 
and as he approached she even found herself ad- 
miring the sheen of his heavy, black, silver-shot coat. 

It was evident that the newcomer was filled with 
suppressed excitement. His demeanor and bearing 
proclaimed this even from afar, nor was the girl 
the only one to note it. For as they saw him coming 
many of the apes arose and advanced to meet him 
bristling and growling as is their way. Go-lat was 
among these latter and he advanced stiffly with the 
hairs upon his neck and down his spine erect, utter- 
ing low growls and baring his fighting fangs, for 
who might say whether Zu-tag came in peace or 
otherwise. The old king had seen other young apes 
come thus in his day filled with a sudden resolution 
to wrest the kingship from their chief. He had seen 


186 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


bulls about to run amuck burst thus suddenly from 
the jungle upon the members of the tribe, and so 
Go-lat took no chances. 

Had Zu-tag come indolently, feeding as he came, 
he might have entered the tribe without arousing 
notice or suspicion, but when one comes thus pre- 
cipitately, evidently bursting with some emotion out 
of the ordinary, let all apes beware. There was a 
certain amount of preliminary circling, growling, 
and sniffing, stiff-legged and stiff-haired, before each 
side discovered that the other had no intention of 
initiating an attack and then Zu-tag told Go-lat what 
he had seen among the lairs of the Gomangani. 

Go-lat grunted in disgust and turned away. ‘‘ Let 
the white ape take care of himself,’^ he said. 

“He is a great ape,” said Zu-tag. “He came 
to live in peace with the tribe of Go-lat. Let us 
save him from the Gomangani.” 

Go-lat grunted again and continued to move away. 

“Zu-tag will go alone and get him,” cried the 
young ape, “ if Go-lat is afraid of the Gomangani.” 

The king ape wheeled in anger, growling loudly 
and beating upon his breast. “ Go-lat is not afraid,” 
he screamed, “but he will not go, for the white ape 
is not of his tribe. Go yourself and take the Tar- 
mangani’s she with you if you wish so much to save 
the white ape.” 

“ Zu-tag will go,” replied the younger bull, “ and 
he will take the Tarmangani’s she and all the bulls 
of Go-lat who are not cowards,” and so saying ht 
cast his eyes inquiringly about at the other apes. 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 187 


‘‘Who will go with Zu-tag to fight the Gomangani 
and bring away our brother,” he demanded. 

Eight young bulls in the full prime of their vigor 
pressed forward to Zu-tag’s side, but the old bulls 
with the conservatism and caution of many years 
upon their gray shoulders, shook their heads and 
waddled away after Go-lat. 

“Good,” cried Zu-tag. “We want no old shes 
to go with us to fight the Gomangani for that is 
work for the fighters of the tribe.” 

The old bulls paid no attention to his boastful 
words, but the eight who had volunteered to accom- 
pany him were filled with self-pride so that they 
stood around vaingloriously beating upon their 
breasts, baring their fangs and screaming their 
hideous challenge until the jungle reverberated to 
the horrid sound. 

All this time Bertha Kircher was a wide-eyed and 
terrified spectator to what, as she thought, could 
end only in a terrific battle between these frightful 
beasts, and when Zu-tag and his followers began 
screaming forth their fearsome challenge, the girl 
found herself trembling in terror, for of all the 
sounds of the jungle there is none more awe inspiring 
than that of the great bull ape when he issues his 
challenge or shrieks forth his victory cry. 

If she had been terrified before she was almost 
paralyzed with fear now as she saw Zu-tag and his 
apes turn toward the boma and approach her. With 
the agility of a cat Zu-tag leaped completely over 
the protecting wall and stood before her. Valiantly 


188 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


she held her spear before her, pointing it at his 
breast. He commenced to jabber and gesticulate, 
and even with her scant acquaintance with the ways 
of the anthropoids, she realized that he was not 
menacing her, for there was little or no baring of 
fighting fangs and his whole expression and attitude 
was as of one attempting to explain a knotty prob- 
lem or plead a worthy cause. At last he became 
evidently impatient, for with a sweep of one great 
paw he struck the spear from her hand and coming 
close, seized her by the arm, but not roughly. She 
shrank away in terror and yet some sense within her 
seemed to be trying to assure her that she was in 
no danger from this great beast. Zu-tag jabbered 
loudly, ever and again pointing into the jungle 
toward the south and moving toward the boma, pull- 
ing the girl with him, he seemed almost frantic in 
his efforts to explain something to her. He pointed 
toward the boma, herself, and then to the forest 
and then at last as though by a sudden inspiration, 
he reached down and seizing the spear, repeatedly 
touched it with his forefinger and again pointed 
toward the south. Suddenly it dawned upon the girl 
that what the ape was trying to explain to her was 
related in some way to the white man whose property 
they thought she was. Possibly her grim protector 
was in trouble and with this thought firmly estab- 
lished, she no longer held back, but started forward 
as though to accompany the young bull. At the 
point in the boma where Tarzan had blocked the 
entrance, she started to pull away the thorn bushes 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 189 


and when Zu-tag saw what she was doing, he fell 
to and assisted her so that presently they had an 
opening through the boma through which she passed 
with the great ape. 

Immediately Zu-tag and his eight apes started off 
rapidly toward the jungle, so rapidly that Bertha 
Kircher would have had to run at top speed to 
keep up with them. This she realized she could not 
do and so she was forced to lag behind much to the 
chagrin of Zu-tag who constantly kept running 
back and urging her to greater speed. Once he 
took her by the arm and tried to draw her along. 
Her protests were of no avail since the beast could 
not know that they were protests, nor did he desist 
until she caught her foot in some tangled grass and 
fell to the ground. Then indeed was Zu-tag furious 
and growled hideously. His apes were waiting at the 
edge of the forest for him to lead them. He sud- 
denly realized that this poor weak she could not 
keep up with them and that if they traveled at her 
slow rate they might be too late to render assistance 
to the Tarmangani, and so without more ado, the 
giant anthropoid picked Bertha Kircher bodily from 
the ground and swung her to his back. Her arms 
were about his neck and in this position he seized 
her wrists in one great paw so that she could not fall 
off and started at a rapid rate to join his com- 
panions. 

Dressed as she was in riding breeches with no 
Entangling skirts to hinder or catch upon passing 
shrubbery, she soon found that she could cling tightly 


190 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


to the back of the mighty bull and when a moment 
later he took to the lower branches of the trees, she 
closed her eyes and clung to him in terror lest she 
be precipitated to the ground below. 

That journey through the primeval forest with 
the nine great apes will live in the memory of Bertha 
Kircher for the balance of her life, as clearly de- 
lineated as at the moment of its enactment. 

The first overwhelming wave of fear having passed, 
she was at last able to open her eyes and view her 
surroundings with increased interest and presently 
the sensation of terror slowly left her to be replaced 
by one of comparative security when she saw the ease 
and surety with which these great beasts traveled 
through the trees ; and later her admiration for the 
young bull increased as it became evident that even 
burdened with her additional weight, he moved more 
rapidly and with no greater signs of fatigue than his 
imburdened fellows. 

Not once did Zu-tag pause until he came to a stop 
among the branches of a tree no great distance from 
the native village. They could hear the noises of 
the life within the palisade, the laughing and shout- 
ing of the Negroes, and the barking of dogs, and 
through the foliage the girl caught glimpses of the 
village from which she had so recently escaped. She 
shuddered to think of the possibility of having to 
return to it and of possible recapture, and she won- 
dered why Zu-tag had brought her here. 

Now the apes advanced slowly once more and with 
great caution, moving as noiselessly through the trees 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 191 


as the squirrels themselves until they had reached 
a point where they could easily overlook the palisade 
and the village street below. 

Zu-tag squatted upon a great branch close to the 
bole of the tree and by loosening the girPs arms 
from about his neck, indicated that she was to find 
a footing for herself and when she had done so, he 
turned toward her and pointed repeatedly at the 
open doorway of a hut upon the opposite side of 
the street below them. By various gestures he 
seemed to be trying to explain something to her and 
at last she caught at the germ of his idea — that 
her white man was a prisoner there. 

Beneath them was the roof of a hut onto which 
she saw that she could easily drop, but what she 
could do after she had entered the village was be- 
yond her. 

Darkness was already falling and the fires be- 
neath the cooking pots had been lighted. The girl 
saw the stake in the village street and the piles of 
fagots about it and in terror she suddenly realized 
the portent of these grisly preparations. Oh, if she 
but only had some sort of a weapon that might 
give her even a faint hope, some slight advantage 
against the blacks. Then she would not hesitate to 
venture into the village in an arttempt to save the 
man who had upon three different occasions saved 
her. She knew that he hated her and yet strong 
within her breast burned the sense, of her obligation 
to him. She could not fathom him. Never in her 
life had she seen a man at once so paradoxical anj 


192 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


dependable. In many of his ways he was more savage 
than the beasts with which he associated and yet, 
on the other hand, he was as chivalrous as a knight 
of old. For several days she had been lost with 
him in the jungle absolutely at his mercy yet she 
held come to trust so implicitly in his honor that any 
fear she had had of him was rapidly disappearing. 

On the other hand, that he might be hideously 
cruel was evidenced to her by the fact that he was 
planning to leave her alone in the midst of the 
frightful dangers which menaced her by night and 
by day. 

Zu-tag was evidently waiting for darkness to faU 
before carrying out whatever plans had matured in 
his savage little brain for he and his fellows sat 
quietly in the tree about her watching the prepara- 
tion of the blacks. Presently it became apparent 
that some altercation had arisen among the Negroes, 
for a score or more of them were gathered around 
one who appeared to be their chief and all were 
talking and gesticulating heatedly. The argument 
lasted for some five or ten minutes when suddenly 
the little knot broke and two warriors ran to the 
opposite side of the village from whence they pres- 
ently returned with a large stake which they soon 
set up beside the one already in place. The girl 
wondered what the purpose of the second stake might 
be nor did she have long to wait for an explanation. 

It was quite dark by this time, the village being 
lighted by the fitful glare of many fires and now 
she saw a number of warriors approach and enter 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 193 


the hut Zu-tag had been watching. A moment later 
they reappeared dragging between them two cap- 
tives, one of whom the girl immediately recognized 
as her protector and the other as an Englishman 
in the uniform of an aviator. This, then, was the 
reason for the two stakes. 

Arising quickly she placed a hand upon Zu-tag’s 
shoulder and pointed down into the village. ‘‘ Come,” 
she said, as if she had been talking to one of her 
own kind, and with the word she swung lightly to 
the roof of the hut below. From there to the ground 
was but a short drop and a moment later she was 
circling the hut upon the side farthest from the 
fires, keeping in the dense shadows where there was 
little likelihood of being discovered. She turned 
once to see that Zu-tag was directly behind her and 
could see his huge bulk looming up in the dark, while 
beyond was another one of his eight. Doubtless they 
had all followed her and this fact gave her a greater 
sense of security and hope than she had before ex- 
perienced. 

Pausing beside the hut next to the street, she 
peered cautiously about the corner. A few inches 
from her was the open doorway of the structure and 
beyond, farther down the village street the blacks 
were congregating about the prisoners who were al- 
ready being bound to the stakes. All eyes were 
centered upon the victims and there was only the 
remotest chance that she and her companions would 
be discovered until they were close upon the blacks. 
She wished, however, that she might have some soi^ 


194 . 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


of a weapon with which to lead the attack for she 
could not know, of course, for a certainty whether 
the great apes would follow her or not. Hoping that 
she might find something within the hut, she slipped 
quickly around the corner and into the doorway and 
after her, one by one, came the nine bulls. Search- 
ing quickly about the interior, she presently dis- 
covered a spear and armed with this, she again ap- 
proached the entrance. 

Tarzan of the Apes and Lieutenant Harold Percy 
Smith-Oldwick were bound securely to their respec- 
tive stakes. Neither had spoken for some time. The 
Englishman turned his head so that he could see 
his companion in misery. Tarzan stood straight 
against his stake. His face was 'entirely expression- 
less in so far as either fear or anger were concerned. 
His countenance portrayed bored indifference though 
both men knew that they were about to be tortured. 

“Good-bye, old top,” whispered the young lieu- 
tenant. 

Tarzan turned his eyes in the direction of the 
other and smiled. “Good-bye,” he said. “If you 
want to get it over in a hurry, inhale the smoke and 
flames as rapidly as you can.” 

“ Thanks,” replied the aviator and though he made 
a wry face, he drew himself up very straight and 
squared his shoulders. 

The women and children had seated themselves in 
a wide circle about the victims while the warriors, 
hideously painted, were forming slowly to commence 
the dance of death,: Again Tarzan turned to his 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 195 


companion. “If you’d like to spoil their fun,” he 
said, “ don’t make any fuss no matter how much you 
suffer. If you can carry on to the end without 
changing the expression upon your face or uttering 
a single sound, you will deprive them of all the 
pleasures of this part of the entertainment. Good- 
bye again and good luck.” 

The young Englishman made no reply but it was 
evident from the set of his jaws that the Negroes 
would get little enjoyment out of him. 

The warriors were circling now. Presently 
Numabo would draw first blood with his sharp 
spear which would be the signal for the beginning 
of the torture after a little of which the fagots would 
be lighted around the feet of the victims. 

Closer and closer danced the hideous chief, his 
yellow, sharp-filed teeth showing in the firelight 
between his thick, red lips. Now bending double, 
now stamping furiously upon the ground, now leap- 
ing into the air, he danced step by step in the nar- 
rowing circle that would presently bring him within 
spear reach of the intended feast. 

At last the spear reached out and touched the 
ape-man on the breast and when it came away, a 
little trickle of blood ran down the smooth, brown 
hide and almost simultaneously there broke from 
the outer periphery of the expectant audience a 
woman’s shriek which seemed a signal for a series of 
hideous screamings, growlings and barkings, and a 
great commotion upon that side of the circle. The 
victims could not see the cause of the disturbanc/ 


196 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


but Tarzan did not have to see for he knew by 
the voices of the apes the identity of the disturbers. 
He only wondered what had brought them and what 
the purpose of the attack, for he could not believe 
that they had come to rescue him. 

Kumabo and his warriors broke quickly from the 
circle of their dance to see pushing toward them 
through the ranks of their screaming and terrified 
people the very white girl who had escaped them 
a few nights before, and at her back what appeared 
to their surprised eyes a veritable horde of the huge 
and hairy forest men upon whom they looked with 
considerable fear and awe. 

Striking to right and left with his heavy fists, 
tearing with his great fangs, came Zu-tag, the young 
bull, while at his heels, emulating his example, surged 
his hideous apes. Quickly they came through the old 
men and the women and children, for straight toward 
Numabo and his warriors the girl led them. It was 
then that they came within range of Tarzan’s vision 
and he saw with unmixed surprise who it was that 
led the apes to his rescue. 

To Zu-tag he shouted: ‘‘Go for the big bulls 
while the she unbinds me,” and to Bertha Kircher: 
“ Quick ! Cut these bonds. The apes will take care 
of the blacks.” 

Turning from her advance the girl ran to his 
side. She had no knife and the bonds were tied 
tightly but she worked quickly and coolly and as 
Zu-tag and his apes closed with the warriors, she suc- 
ceeded in loosening Tarzan’s bonds sufficiently to 


IN THE HANDS OF SAVAGES 197 


permit him to extricate his own hands so that in 
another minute he had freed himself. 

“ Now unbind the Englishman,” he cried, and leap-* 
ing forward, ran to join Zu-tag and his fellows in 
their battle against the blacks. Numabo and his 
warriors, realizing now the relatively small numbers 
of the apes against them, had made a determined 
stand and with spears and weapons were endeavor- 
ing to overcome the invaders. Three of the apes 
were already down, killed or mortally wounded, when 
Tarzan, realizing that the battle must eventually go 
against the apes unless some means could be found 
to break the morale of the Negroes, cast about him 
for some means of bringing about the desired end. 
And suddenly his eye lighted upon a number of 
weapons which he knew would accomplish the result. 
A grim smile touched his lips as he snatched a vessel 
of boiling water from one of the fires and hurled 
it full in the faces of the warriors. Screaming with 
terror and pain they fell back though Numabo urged 
them to rush forward. 

Scarcely had the first cauldron of boiling water 
spilled its contents upon them ere Tarzan deluged 
them with a second, nor was there any third needed 
to send them shrieking in every direction to the se- 
curity of their huts. 

By the time Tarzan had recovered his own weapons 
the girl had released the young Englishman and, 
with the six remaining apes, the three Europeans 
moved slowly toward the village gate, the aviator 
arming himself with a spear discarded by one of 


198 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


the scalded warriors, as they eagerly advanced to- 
ward the outer darkness, 

Numabo was unable to rally the now thoroughly 
terrified and painfully burned warriors so that 
rescued and rescuers passed out of the village into 
the blackness of the jungle without further inter- 
ference. 

Tarzan strode through the jungle in silence. Be- 
side him walked Zu-tag, the great ape, and behind 
them strung the surviving anthropoids followed by 
Fraulein Bertha Kircher and Lieutenant Harold 
Percy Smith-Oldwick, the latter a thoroughly as- 
tonished and mystified Englishman. 

In all his life Tarzan of the Apes had been obliged 
to acknowledge but few obligations. He won his 
way through his savage world by the might of his 
own muscle, the superior keenness of his five senses 
and his God-given power to reason. Tonight the 
greatest of all obligations had been placed upon him 
— his life had been saved by another and Tarzan 
shook his head and growled, for it had been saved 
by one whom he hated above all others. 


CHAPTER XI 


FINDING THE AIRPLANE 

T ARZAN of the Apes, returning from a success^ 
ful hunt^ with the body of Bara, the deer, 
across one sleek, brown shoulder, paused in the 
branches of a great tree at the edge of a clearing 
and gazed ruefully at two figures walking from the 
river to the boma-encircled hut a short distance 
away. 

The ape-man shook his tousled head and sighed. 
His eyes wandered toward the west and his thoughts 
to the far-away cabin by the land-locked harbor ol 
the great water that washed the beach of his boyhood 
home — to the cabin of his long-dead father to which 
the memories and treasures of a happy childhood 
lured him. Since the loss of his mate a great long- 
ing had possessed him to return to the haunts of his 
youth — to the untracked jungle wilderness where 
he had lived the life he loved best long before man 
had invaded the precincts of his wild stamping 
grounds. There he hoped in a renewal of the old 
life under the old conditions to win surcease from 
sorrow and perhaps some measure of forgetfulness. 

But the little cabin and the land-locked harbor 
were many long, weary marches away, and he was 
199 


200 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


handicapped by the duty which he felt he owed to 
the two figures walking in the clearing before him. 
One was a young man in a worn and ragged uni- 
form of the British Royal Air Forces. The other, 
a young woman in the even more disreputable rem- 
nants of what once had been trim riding togs. 

A freak of fate had thrown these three radically 
different types together. One was a savage, almost 
naked beast-man, one an English army officer, and 
the woman she whom the ape-man knew and hated 
as a German spy. 

How he was to get rid of them Tarzan could not 
imagine unless he accompanied them upon the weary 
march back to the east coast, a march that would 
necessitate his once more retracing the long, weary 
way he already had covered towards his goal, yet 
what else could be done.?* These two had neither 
the strength, endurance, nor jungle-craft to accom- 
pany him through the unknown country to the west, 
nor did he wish them with him. The man he might 
have tolerated, but he could not even consider the 
presence of the girl in the far-off cabin, which had in 
a way become sacred to him through its memories, 
without a growl of anger rising to his lips. There 
remained, then, but the one way since he could noS 
desert them. He must move by slow and irksome 
marches back to the east coast, or at least to the 
first white settlement in that direction. 

He had, it is true, contemplated leaving the girl 
to her fate but that was before she had been instru- 
mental in saving him from torture and death at 


FINDING THE AIRPLANE 


mi 


the hands of the black Wamabos. He chafed under 
the obligation she had put upon him, but no less 
did he acknowledge it and as he watched the two, 
the rueful expression upon his face was lightened 
by a smile as he thought of the helplessness of them. 
What a puny thing, indeed, was man! How ill 
equipped to combat the savage forces of nature and 
of nature’s jungle. Why, even the tiny balu of the 
tribe of Go-lat, the great ape, was better fitted to 
survive than these, for a balu could at least escape 
the numerous creatures that menaced its existence, 
while with the possible exception of Kota, the toi^ 
toise, none moved so slowly as did helpless and feeble 
man. 

Without him these two doubtless would starve in 
the midst of plenty, should they by some miracle 
escape the other forces of destruction which con- 
stantly threatened them. That morning Tarzan had 
brought them fruit, nuts, and plantain, and now he 
was bringing them the flesh of his kill, while the 
best that they might do was to fetch water from the 
river. Even now as they walked across the clearing 
toward the boma, they were in utter ignorance of 
the presence of Tarzan near them. They did not 
know that his sharp eyes were watching them, nor 
that other eyes less friendly were glaring at them 
from a clump of bushes close beside the boma en- 
trance. They did not know these things, but Tarzan 
did. No more than they, could he see the creature 
crouching in the concealment of the foliage, yet he 
knew that it was there and what *t was and what 


202 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


its intentions precisely as well as though it had been 
lying in the open. 

A slight movement of the leaves at the top of 
a single stem had apprised him of the presence of 
a creature there, for the movement was not that 
imparted by the wind. It came from pressure at 
the bottom of the stem which communicates a dif- 
ferent movement to the leaves than does the wind 
passing among them, as anyone who has lived his 
lifetime in the jungle well knows, and the same wind 
that passed through the foliage of the bush brought 
to the ape-man’s sensitive nostrils indisputable evi- 
dence of the fact that Sheeta, the panther, waited 
there for the two returning from the river. 

They had covered half the distance to the boma 
entrance when Tarzan called to them to stop. They 
looked in surprise in the direction from which his 
voice had come to see him drop lightly to the ground 
and advance toward them. 

“ Come slowly toward me,” he called to them. “ Do 
not run for if you run Sheeta will charge.” 

They did as he bid, their faces filled with ques- 
tioning wonderment. 

“ What do you mean ? ” asked the young English- 
man. ‘‘Who is Sheeta but for answer the ape- 
man suddenly hurled the carcass of Bara, the deer, 
to the ground and leaped quickly toward them, his 
eyes upon something in their rear; and then it was 
that the two turned and learned the identity of 
Sheeta, for behind them was a devil-faced cat charg- 
ing rapidly toward them. 


FINDING THE AIRPLANE 




Sheeta with rising anger and suspicion had seen 
the ape-man leap from the tree and approach the 
quarry. His life’s experiences backed by instinct, 
told him that the Tarmangani was about to rob him 
of his prey and as Sheeta was hungry, he had no 
intention of being thus easily deprived of the flesh 
he already considered his own. 

The girl stifled an involuntary scream as she 
saw the proximity of the fanged fury bearing down 
upon them. She shrank close to the man and clung 
to him and all unarmed and defenseless as he was, 
the Englishman pushed her behind him and shielding 
her with his body, stood squarely in the face of the 
panther’s charge. Tarzan noted the act, and though 
accustomed as he was to acts of courage, he ex- 
perienced a thrill from the hopeless and futile 
bravery of the man. 

The charging panther moved rapidly, and the 
distance which separated the bush in which he had 
concealed himself from the objects of his desire was 
not great. In the time that one might understand- 
ingly read a dozen words the strong-limbed cat could 
have covered the entire distance and made his kill, 
yet if Sheeta was quick, quick too was Tarzan. The 
English lieutenant saw the ape-man flash by him 
like the wind. He saw the great cat veer in his 
charge as though to elude the naked savage rushing 
to meet him, as it was evidently Sheeta’s intention 
to make good his kill before attempting to protect 
it from Tarzan. 

Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick saw these things and 


204 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


then with increasing wonder he saw the ape-man 
swerve, too, and leap for the spotted cat as a foot- 
ball player leaps for a runner. He saw the strong, 
brown arms encircling the body of the carnivore, 
the left arm in front of the beast’s left shoulder and 
the right arm behind his right foreleg, and with the 
impact the two together rolling over and over upon 
the turf. He heard the snarls and growls of bestial 
combat, and it was with a feeling of no little horror 
that he realized that the sounds coming from the 
human throat of the battling man could scarce be 
distinguished from those of the panther. 

The first momentary shock of terror over, the girl 
released her grasp upon the Englishman’s arm. 
“Cannot we do something?” she asked. “Cannot 
we help him before the beast kills him?” 

The Englishman looked upon the ground for some 
missile with which to attack the panther and then 
the girl uttered an exclamation and started at a 
run toward the hut. “Wait there,” she called over 
her shoulder. “I will fetch the spear that he left 
me.” 

Smith-Oldwick saw the raking talons of the 
panther searching for the flesh of the man and the 
man on his part straining every muscle and using 
every artifice to keep his body out of range of them. 
The muscles of his arms knotted under the brown 
hide. The veins stood out upon his neck and fore- 
head as with ever-increasing power he strove to crush 
the life from the great cat. The ape-man’s ' teeth 
were fastened in the back of Sheeta’s neck and now 


FINDING THE AIRPLANE 


205 


he succeeded in encircling the beast’s torso with his 
legs which he crossed and locked beneath the cat’s 
belly. Leaping and snarling, Sheeta sought to dis- 
lodge the ape-man’s hold upon him. He hurled him- 
self upon the ground and rolled over and over. He 
reared upon his hind legs and threw himself back- 
wards but always the savage creature upon his back 
clung tenaciously to him, and always the mighty 
brown arms crushed tighter and tighter about his 
chest. 

And then the girl, panting from her quick run, 
returned with the short spear Tarzan had left her 
as her sole weapon of protection. She did not wait 
to hand it to the Englishman who ran forward to 
receive it, but brushed past him and leaped into close 
quarters beside the growling, tumbling mass of yel- 
low fur and smooth brown hide. Several times she 
attempted to press the point home into the cat’s 
body, but on both occasions the fear of endangering 
the ape-man caused her to desist, but at last the two 
lay motionless for a moment as the carnivore sought 
a moment’s rest from the strenuous exertions of bat- 
tle, and then it was that Bertha Kircher pressed the 
point of the spear to the tawny side and drove it 
deep into the savage heart. 

Tarzan rose from the dead body of Sheeta and 
shook himself after the manner of beasts that are 
entirely clothed with hair. Like many other of his 
traits and mannerisms this was the result of environ- 
ment rather than heredity or reversion, and even 
though he was outwardly a man, the Englishman and 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


206 


the girl were both impressed with the naturalness 
of the act. It was as though Numa, emerging from 
a fight, had shaken himself to straighten his rumpled 
mane and coat and yet, too, there was something un- 
canny about it as there had been when the savagf 
growls and hideous snarls issued from those clean- 
cut lips. 

Tarzan looked at the girl, a quizzical expression 
upon his face. Again had she placed him unde» 
obligations to her and Tarzan of the Apes did not 
wish to be obligated to a German spy; yet in his 
honest heart he could not but admit a certain 
admiration for her courage, a trait which always 
greatly impressed the ape-man, he himself the per- 
sonification of courage. 

“Here is the kill,” he said, picking the carcass 
of Bara from the ground. “You will want to cook 
your portion, I presume, but Tarzan does not spoil 
his meat with fire.” 

They followed him to the boma where he cut sev- 
eral pieces of meat from the carcass for them, retain- 
ing a joint for himself. The young lieutenant pre- 
pared a fire, and the girl presided over the primitive 
culinary rights of their simple meal. As she worked 
some little way apart from them, the lieutenant and 
the ape-man watched her. 

“She is wonderful. Is she not.?” murmured 
Smith-Oldwick. 

“ She is a German and a spy,” replied Tarzan. 

The Englishman turned quickly upon hittl. 
“ What do you mean ? ” he cried. 


FINDING THE AIRPLANE 


S07 


“ I mean what I say,” replied the ape-man. “ She 
is a German and a spy.” 

‘‘I do not believe it!” exclaimed the aviator. 

^‘You do not have to,” Tarzan assured him. “It 
is nothing to me what you believe. I saw her in con- 
ference with the Boche general and his staff at the 
camp near Taveta. They all knew her and called 
her by name and she handed him a paper. The 
next time I saw her she was inside the British lines 
in disguise, and again I saw her bearing word to a 
German officer at Wilhelms tal. She is a German and 
a spy, but she is a woman and therefore I cannot 
destroy her.” 

“You really believe that what you say is true?” 
asked the young lieutenant. “My God! I cannot 
believe it. She is so sweet and brave and good.” 

The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. “ She is 
brave,” he said, “ but even Pamba, the rat, must have 
some good quality, but she is what I have told you 
and therefore I hate her and you should hate her.” 

Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick buried 
his face in his hands. “ God forgive me,” he said at 
last ; “ I cannot hate her.” 

The ape-man cast a contemptuous look at his com- 
panion and arose. “Tarzan goes again to hunt,” 
he said. “You have enough food for two days. 
By that time he will return.” 

The two watched him until he had disappeared in 
the foliage of the trees at the further side of the 
clearing. 

When he had gone the girl felt a vague sense of 


208 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


apprehension that she never experienced when Tar- 
zan was present. The invisible menaces lurking in 
the grim jungle seemed more real and much more 
imminent now that the ape-man was no longer near. 
While he had been there talking with them the little 
thatched hut and its surrounding thorn boma had 
seemed as safe a place as the world might afford. 
She wished that he had remained — two days seemed 
an eternity in contemplation — two days of constant 
fear, two days, every moment of which would be 
fraught with danger. She turned toward her 
companion. 

“I wish that he had remained,” she said. “I 
always feel so much safer when he is near. He is 
very grim and very terrible and yet I feel safer with 
him than with any man I ever have known. He 
seems to dislike me and yet I know that he would let 
no harm befall me. I cannot understand him.” 

‘‘Neither do I understand him,” replied the Eng- 
lishman ; “but I know this much — our presence here 
is interfering with his plans. He would like to be 
rid of us, and I half imagine that he rather hopes 
to find when he returns that we have succumbed to 
one of the dangers which must always confront us 
in this savage land. 

“ I think that we should try to return to the white 
settlements. This man does not want us here, nor is 
it reasonable to assume that we could long survive in 
such a savage wilderness. I have traveled and 
hunted in several parts of Africa, but never have I 
seen or heard of any single locality so over-run with 


FINDING THE AIRPLANE 


209 


savage beasts and dangerous natives. If we set out 
for the east coast at once we would be in but little 
more danger than we are here and if we could survive 
a day’s march, I believe that we will find the means 
of reaching the coast in a few hours, for my plane 
must still be in the same place that I landed just 
before the blacks captured me. Of course there is 
no one here who could operate it nor is there any 
reason why they should have destroyed it. As a 
matter of fact, the natives would be so fearful and 
suspicious of so strange and incomprehensible a 
thing that the chances are they would not dare ap- 
proach it. Yes, it must be where I left it and all 
ready to carry us safely to the settlements.” 

‘‘But we cannot leave,” said the girl, “until he 
returns. We could not go away like that without 
thanking him or bidding him farewell. We are 
under too great obligations to him.” 

The man looked at her in silence for a moment. 
He wondered if she knew how Tarzan felt toward her 
and then he himself began to speculate upon the 
truth of the ape-man’s charges. The longer he 
looked at the girl, the less easy was it to entertain 
the thought that she was an enemy spy. He was 
upon the point of asking her point-blank but he 
could not bring himself to do so, finally determining 
to wait until time and longer acquaintance should 
reveal the truth or falsity of the accusation. 

“I believe,” he said as though there had been 
no pause in their conversation, “ that the man would 
be more than glad to find us gone when he returns. 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


210 


It is not necessary to jeopardize our lives for two 
more days in order that we may thank him, how- 
ever much we may appreciate his services to us. 
You have more than balanced your obligations to 
him and from what he told me I feel that you espe- 
cially should not remain here longer.” 

The girl looked up at him in astonishment. 
‘‘ What do you mean.^” she asked. 

“ I do not like to tell,” said the Englishman, 
digging nervously at the turf with the point of a 
stick, “but you have my word that he would rather 
you were not here.” 

“Tell me what he said,” she insisted, “I have a 
right to know.” 

Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick squared his shoulders 
and raised his eyes to those of the girl. “He said 
that he hated you,” he blurted. “ He has only aided 
you at all from a sense of duty because you are a 
woman.” 

The girl paled and then flushed. “ I will be ready 
to go,” she said, “in just a moment. We had better 
take some of this meat with us. There is no telling 
when we will be able to get more.” 

And so the two set out down the river toward the 
south. The man carried the short spear that Tar^ 
zan had left with the girl, while she was entirely 
unarmed except for a stick she had picked up from 
among those left after the building of the hut. 
Before departing she had insisted that the man 
leave a note for Tarzan thanking him for his care 
of them and bidding him good-bye. This they left 


FINDING THE AIRPLANE 


211 


pinned to the inside wall of the hut with a little 
sliver of wood. 

It was necessary that they be constantly on the 
alert since they never knew what might confront 
them at the next turn of the winding jungle trail or 
what might lie concealed in the tangled bushes at 
either side. There was also the ever-present danger 
of meeting some of Numabo’s black warriors and as 
the village lay directly in their line of march, there 
was the necessity for making a wide detour before 
they reached it in order to pass around it without 
being discovered. 

“I am not so much afraid of the native blacks,” 
said the girl, ‘‘ as I am of Usanga and his people. 
He and his men were all attached to a German native 
regiment. They brought me along with them when 
they deserted, either with the intention of holding 
me for ransom or selling me into the harem of one 
of the black sultans of the north. Usanga is much 
more to be feared than Numabo for he has had the 
advantages of European military training and is 
armed with more or less modem weapons and 
ammunition.” 

‘‘It is lucky for me,” remarked the Englishman, 
“that it was the ignorant Numabo who discovered 
and captured me rather than the worldly wise 
Usanga. He would have felt less fear of the giant 
flying machine and would have known only too well 
how to wreck it.” 

“ Let us pray that the black sergeant has not dis- 
covered it,” said the girl 


212 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


They made their way to a point which they 
guessed was about a mile above the village, then they 
turned into the trackless tangle of undergrowth to 
the east. So dense was the verdure at many points 
that it was with the utmost difficulty they wormed 
their way through, sometimes on hands and knees 
and again by clambering over numerous fallen tree 
trunks. Interwoven with dead limbs and living 
branches were the tough and ropelike creepers which 
formed a tangled network across their path. 

South of them in an open meadowland a number 
of black warriors were gathered about an object 
which elicited much wondering comment. The blacks 
were clothed in fragments of what had once been 
uniforms of a native German command. They were 
a most unlovely band and chief among them in au- 
thority and repulsiveness was the black sergeant 
Usanga. The object of their interest was a British 
aeroplane. 

Immediately after the Englishman had been 
brought to Numabo’s village Usanga had gone out 
in search of the plane, prompted partially by curi- 
osity and partially by an intention to destroy it, 
but when he had found it, some new thought had 
deterred him from carrying out his design. The 
thing represented considerable value as he well knew 
and it had occurred to him that in some way he 
might turn his prize to profit. Every day he had 
returned to it, and while at first it had filled him 
with considerable awe, he eventually came to look 
upon it with the accustomed eye of a proprietor, 


FINDING THE AIRPLANE 


213 


60 that he now clambered into the fuselage and even 
advanced so far as to wish that he might learn to 
operate it. 

What a feat it would be indeed to fly like a bird 
far above the highest tree top! How it would All 
his less favored companions with awe and admira- 
tion ! If Usanga could but fly, so great would be the 
respect of all the tribesmen throughout the scattered 
villages of the great interior, they would look upon 
him as little less than a god. 

Usanga rubbed his palms together and smacked 
his thick lips. Then indeed, would he be very rich 
for all the villages would pay tribute to him and he 
could even have as many as a dozen wives. With 
that thought, however, came a mental picture of 
Naratu, the black termagant, who ruled him with an 
iron hand. Usanga made a wry face and tried to 
forget the extra dozen wives, but the lure of the 
idea remained and appealed so strongly to him that 
he presently found himself reasoning most logically 
that a god would not be much of a god with less 
than twenty-four wives. 

He fingered the instruments and the control half 
hoping and half fearing that he would alight upon 
the combination that would put the machine in 
flight. Often had he watched the British air-men 
soaring above the German lines and it looked so 
simple he was quite sure that he could do it him- 
self if there was somebody who could but once show 
him how. There was, of course, always the hope 
that the white man who came in the machine and 


214 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


who had escaped from Numabo’s village might fall 
into Usanga’s hands and then indeed would he be 
able to learn how to fly. It was in this hope that 
Usanga spent so much time in the vicinity of the 
plane, reasoning as he did that eventually the white 
man would return in search of it. 

And at last he was rewarded, for upon this very 
day after he had quit the machine ahd entered the 
jungle with his warriors he heard voices to the 
north and when he and his men had hidden in the 
dense foliage upon either side of the trail, Usanga 
was presently filled with elation by the appearance 
of the British officer and the white girl whom the 
black sergeant had coveted and who had escaped 
him. 

The Negro could scarce restrain a shout of ela- 
tion, for he had not hoped that fate would be so 
kind as to throw these two whom he most desired 
into his power at the same time. 

As the two came down the trail all unconscious 
of impending danger, the man was explaining that 
they must be very close to the point at which the 
plane had landed. Their entire attention was cen- 
tered on the trail directly ahead of them as they 
momentarily expected it to break into the meadow- 
land where they were sure they would see the plane 
that would spell life and liberty for them. 

The trail was broad and they were walking side 
by side so that at a sharp turn the parklike clearing 
was revealed to them simultaneously as were the 
outlines of the machine they sought. 


FINDING THE AIRPLANE 


215 


Exclamations of relief and delight broke from 
their lips and at the same instant Usanga and his 
black warriors rose from the bushes all about them* 


CHAPTER Xn 


THE BLACK FLIER 


HE girl was almost crushed by terror and dis- 



appointment. To have been thus close to 
safety and then to have all hope snatched away 
by a cruel stroke of fate seemed unendurable. The 
man was disappointed, too, but more was he angry. 
He noted the remnants of the uniforms upon the 
blacks and immediately he demanded to know where 
were their officers. 

“ They cannot understand you,’^ said the girl and 
so in the bastard tongue that is the medium of com- 
munication between the Germans and the blacks 
of their colony, she repeated the white man’s 
question. 

Usanga grinned. ‘‘You know where they are, 
white woman,” he replied. “They are dead and if 
this white man does not do as I tell him, he, too, 
will be dead.” 

“ What do you want of him ? ” asked the girl. 

“I want him to teach me how to fly like a bird,” 
replied Usanga. 

Bertha Kircher looked her astonishment but 
repeated the demand to the lieutenant. 

yhe Englishman meditated for a moment. “He 


216 


THE BLACK FLIER 




wants to learn to fly, does he?” he repeated. “Ask 
him if he will give us our freedom if I teach him 
to fly.” 

The girl put the question to Usanga who, de- 
graded, cunning and entirely unprincipled, was 
always perfectly willing to promise anything whether 
he had any intentions of fulfilling his promises or 
not, and so immediately assented to the proposition. 

“Let the white man teach me to fly,” he said, 
“and I will take you back close to the settlements 
of your people, but in return for this I shall keep 
the great bird,” and he waved a black hand in the 
direction of the aeroplane. 

When Bertha Eircher had repeated Usanga’s 
proposition to the aviator, the latter shrugged his 
shoulders and with a wry face finally agreed. “I 
fancy there is no other way out of it,” he said. “In 
any event the plane is lost to the British govern- 
ment. If I refuse the black scoundrel’s request, 
there is no doubt but what he will make short work 
of me with the result that the machine will lie here 
until it rots. If I accept his offer it will at least be 
the means of assuring your safe return to civilization 
and that ” he added, “ is worth more to me than all 
the planes in the British Air Service.” 

The girl cast a quick glance at him. These were 
the first words he had addressed to her that might 
indicate that his sentiments toward her were more 
than those of a companion in distress. She regretted 
that he had spoken as he had and he, too, regretted 
jt almost instantly as he saw the shadow cross her 


218 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


face and realized that he had unwittingly added to 
the difficulties of her already almost unbearable 
situation. 

“Forgive me,” he said quickly. “Please forget 
what that remark implied. I promise you that I 
will not offend again, if it does offend you, until 
after we are both safely out of this mess.” 

She smiled and thanked him, but the thing had 
been said and could never be unsaid, and Bertha 
Kircher knew even more surely than as though he 
had fallen upon his knees and protested undying 
devotion, that the young English officer loved her. 

Usanga was for taking his first lesson in aviation 
immediately. The Englishman attempted to dis- 
suade him, but immediately the black became threat- 
ening and abusive since, like all those who are 
ignorant, he was suspicious that the intentions of 
others were always ulterior unless they perfectly 
coincided with his wishes. 

“All right, old top,” muttered the Englishman, 
“ I will give you the lesson of your life,” and then 
turning to the girl : “ Persuade him to let you 
accompany us. I shall be afraid to leave you here 
with these devilish scoundrels.” But when she put 
the suggestion to Usanga the black immediately sus- 
pected some plan to thwart him — possibly to carry 
him against his will back to the German masters he 
had traitorously deserted, and glowering at her 
savagely, he obstinately refused to entertain the sug- 
gestion. 

“The white woman will remain here with my 


THE BLACK FLIER 


219 


people,” he said. “They will not harm her unless 
you fail to bring me back safely.” 

“Tell him,” said the Englishman, “that if you 
are not standing in plain sight in this meadow when 
I return, I will not land, but will carry Usanga 
back to the British camp and have him hanged.” 

Usanga promised that the girl would be in evi- 
dence upon their return, and took immediate steps 
to impress upon his warriors that under penalty of 
death they must not harm her. Then, followed by 
the other members of his party, he crossed the clear- 
ing toward the plane with the Englishman. Once 
seated within what he already considered his new 
possession, the black’s courage began to wane and 
when the motor was started and the great propeller 
commenced to whir, he screamed to the Englishman 
to stop the thing and permit him to alight, but the 
aviator could neither hear nor understand the black 
above the noise of the propeller and exhaust. By 
this time the plane was moving along the ground 
and even then Usanga was upon the verge of leaping 
out, and would have done so had he been able to 
unfasten the strap from about his waist. Then the 
plane rose from the ground and in a moment soared 
gracefully in a wide circle until it topped the trees. 
The black sergeant was in a veritable collapse of 
terror. He saw the earth dropping rapidly from 
beneath him. He saw the trees and river and at a 
distance the little clearing with the thatched huts of 
Numabo’s village. He tried hard not to think of 
the results of a sudden fall to the rapidly receding 


220 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


ground below. He attempted to concentrate his 
mind upon the twenty-four wives which this great 
bird most assuredly would permit him to command. 
Higher and higher rose the plane, swinging in a wide 
circle above the forest, river, and meadowland and 
presently, much to his surprise, Usanga discovered 
that his terror was rapidly waning so that it was 
not long before there was forced upon him a con- 
sciousness of utter security, and then it was that he 
began to take notice of the manner in which the 
white man guided and manipulated the plane. 

After half an hour of skilful maneuvering, the 
Englishman rose rapidly to a considerable altitude 
and then suddenly without warning, he looped and 
flew with the plane inverted for a few seconds. 

“ I said I’d give this beggar the lesson of his life,” 
he murmured as he heard, even above the whir of 
the propeller, the shriek of the terrified Negro. 
A moment later Smith-Oldwick had righted the ma- 
chine and was dropping rapidly toward the earth. 
He circled slowly a few times above the meadow until 
he had assured himself that Bertha Kircher was 
there and apparently unharmed, then he dropped 
gently to the ground so that the machine came to 
a stop a short distance from where the girl and 
the warriors awaited them. 

It was a trembling and ashen-hued Usanga who 
tumbled out of the fuselage, for his nerves were still 
on edge as a result of the harrowing experience of 
the loop, yet with terra firma once more under foot, 
he quickly regained his composure. Strutting about 


THE BLACK FLIER 


221 


with great show and braggadocio, he strove to im- 
press his followers with the mere nothingness of so 
trivial a feat as flying birdlike thousands of yards 
above the jungle, though it was long until he had 
thoroughly convinced himself by the force of auto- 
suggestion that he had enjoyed every instant of the 
flight and was already far advanced in the art of 
aviation. 

So jealous was tne black of his new-found toy that 
he would not return to the village of Numabo, but 
insisted on making camp close beside the plane lest 
in some inconceivable fashion it should be stolen 
from him. For two days they camped there, and 
constantly during daylight hours Usanga compelled 
the Englishman to instruct him in the art of flying. 

Smith-Oldwick in recalling the long months of 
arduous training he had undergone himself before 
he had been considered sufficiently adept to be 
considered a finished flier, smiled at the conceit of 
the ignorant African who was already demanding 
that he be permitted to make a flight alone. 

If it was not for losing the machine,” the Eng- 
lishman explained to the girl, ‘‘ I’d let the bounder 
take it up and break his fool neck as he would do 
inside of two minutes.” 

However, he finally persuaded Usanga to bide his 
time for a few more days of instruction, but in the 
suspicious mind of the Negro there was a growing 
conviction that the white man’s advice was prompted 
by some ulterior motive; that it was in the hope of 
escaping with the machine himself by night that he 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


refused to admit that Usanga was entirely capable 
of handling it alone and therefore in no further need 
of help or instruction, and so in the mind of the 
black there formed a determination to outwit the 
white man. The lure of the twenty-four seductive 
wives proved in itself a sufficient incentive and there, 
too, was added his desire for the white girl whom 
he had long since determined to possess. 

It was with these thoughts in mind that Usanga 
lay down to sleep in the evening of the second day. 
Constantly, however, the thought of Naratu and her 
temper arose to take the keen edge from his pleasant 
imaginings. If he could but rid himself of her! The 
thought having taken form persisted, but always it 
was more than outweighed by the fact that the blaclj 
sergeant was actually afraid of his woman, so much 
afraid of her in fact that he would not have dared 
to attempt to put her out of the way unless he could 
do so secretly while she slept. However, as one plan 
after another was conjured by the strength of his 
desires, he at last hit upon one which came to him 
almost with the force of a blow and brought him 
sitting upright among his sleeping companions. 

When morning dawned Usanga could scarce wait 
for an opportunity to put his scheme into execution, 
and the moment that he had eaten, he called several 
of his warriors aside and talked with them for some 
moments. 

The Englishman, who usually kept an eye upon 
his black captor, saw now that the latter was explain- 
ing something In detail to his warriors, and from his 


THE BLACK FLIER 


gestures and his manner it was apparent that he was 
persuading them to some new plan as well as giving 
them instructions as to what they were to do. Sev- 
eral times, too, he saw the eyes of the Negroes turned 
upon him and once they flashed simultaneously 
toward the white girl. 

Everything about the occurrence, which in itself 
seemed trivial enough, aroused in the mind of the 
Englishman a well-deflned apprehension that some- 
thing was afoot that boded ill for him and for the 
girl. He could not free himself of the idea and so 
he kept a still closer watch over the black although, 
as he was forced to admit to himself, he was quite 
powerless to avert any fate that lay in store for 
them. Even the spear that he had had when cap- 
tured had been taken from him, so that now he 
was unarmed and absolutely at the mercy of the 
black sergeant and his followers. 

Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick did not 
have long to wait before discovering something of 
Usanga’s plan, for almost immediately after the 
sergeant finished giving his instructions, a number 
of warriors approached the Englishman, while three 
went directly to the girl. 

Without a word of explanation the warriors 
seized the young officer and threw him to the ground 
upon his face. For a moment he struggled to free 
himself and succeeded in landing a few heavy blows 
among his assailants, but he was too greatly out- 
numbered to hope to more than delay them in the 
accomplishment of their object which he soon dis- 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


9.M 


covered was to bind him securely hand and foot. 
When they had finally secured him to their satis- 
faction, they rolled him over on his side and then 
it was he saw that Bertha Kircher had been simi- 
larly trussed. 

Smith-Oldwick lay in such a position that he 
could see nearly the entire expanse of meadow and 
the aeroplane a short distance away. Usanga was 
talking to the girl who was shaking her head in 
vehement negatives. 

‘^What is he saying?” called the Englishman. 

‘‘He is going to take me away in the plane,” the 
girl called back. “He is going to take me farther 
inland to another country where he says that he 
will be king and I am to be one of his wives,” and 
then to the Englishman’s surprise she turned a 
smiling face toward him, “but there is no danger,” 
she continued, “ for we shall both be dead within a 
few minutes — just give him time enough to get 
the machine under way and if he can rise a hundred 
feet from the ground I shall never need fear him 
more.” 

“God!” cried the man. “Is there no way that 
you can dissuade him? Promise him anything. 
Anything that you want. I have money, more 
money than that poor fool could imagine there was 
in the whole world. With it he can buy anything 
that money will purchase, fine clothes and food and 
women, all the women he wants. Tell him this and 
tell him that if he will spare you I give him my 
word that I will fetch it all to him.” 


THE BLACK FLIER 


225 


The girl shoak her head. “It is useless,” she 
said. “He would not understand and if he did 
understand, he would not trust you. The blacks 
are so unprincipled themselves that they can imagine 
no such thing as principle or honor in others, and 
especially do these blacks distrust an Englishman 
whom the Germans have taught them to believe are 
the most treacherous and degraded of people. No, 
it is better thus. I am sorry that you cannot go 
with us, for if he goes high enough my death wilj 
be much easier than that which probably awaits 
you.” 

Usanga had been continually interrupting their 
brief conversation in an attempt to compel the girl 
to translate it to him, for he feared that they were 
concocting some plan to thwart him, and to quiet 
and appease him, she told him that the Englishman 
was merely bidding her farewell and wishing her 
good luck. Suddenly she turned to the black. “ Will 
you do something for me.^” she asked. “If I go 
willingly with you?” 

“What is it you want?” he inquired. 

“Tell your men to free the white man after we 
are gone. He can never catch us. That is all I 
ask of you. If you will grant him his freedom and 
his life, I will go willingly with you.” 

“You will go with me anyway,” growled Usanga. 
“It is nothing to me whether you go willingly or 
not. I am going to be a great king and you will do 
whatever I tell you to do.” 

He had in mind that he would start properly 


226 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


with this woman. There should be no repetition of 
his harrowing experience with Naratu. This wife 
and the twenty-four others should be carefully 
selected and well trained. Hereafter Usanga would 
be master in his own house. 

Bertha Kircher saw that it was useless to appeal 
to the brute and so she held her peace though she 
was filled with sorrow in contemplating the fate that 
awaited the young officer, scarce more than a boy, 
who had impulsively revealed his love for her. 

At Usanga’s order one of the blacks lifted her 
from the ground and carried her to the machine, 
and after Usanga had clambered aboard, they lifted 
her up and he reached down and drew her into the 
fuselage where he removed the thongs from her 
wrists and strapped her into her seat and then 
took his own directly ahead of her. 

The girl turned her eyes toward the Englishman. 
She was very pale but her lips smiled bravely. 

“Good-bye!” she cried. 

“Good-bye, and God bless you!” he called back — 
his voice the least bit husky — and then: “The 
thing I wanted to say — may I say it now, we are 
so very near the end?” 

Her lips moved but whether they voiced consent 
or refusal he did not know, for the words were 
drowned in the whir of the propeller. 

The black had learned his lesson sufficiently well 
so that the motor was started without bungling and 
the machine was soon under way across the meadow- 
land. A groan escaped the lips of the distracted 


THE BLACK FLIER 


227 


Englishman as he watched the woman he loved being 
carried to almost certain death. He saw the planes 
tilt and the machine rise from the ground. It was 
a good take-off — as good as Lieutenant Harold 
Percy Smith-Oldwick could make himself but he 
realized that it was only so by chance. At any 
instant the machine might plunge to earth and even 
if, by some miracle of chance, the black could suc- 
ceed in rising above the tree tops and make a suc- 
cessful flight, there was not one chance in one hun- 
dred thousand that he could ever land again without 
killing his fair captive and himself. 

But what was that? His heart stood stilL 


CHAPTER Xm 
usanga’s eeward 

F or two days Tarzan of the Apes had been hunt- 
ing leisurely to the north, and swinging in a 
wide circle, he had returned to within a short dis- 
tance of the clearing where he had left Bertha 
Kircher and the young lieutenant. He had spent 
the night in a large tree that overhung the river 
only a short distance from the clearing, and now in 
the early morning hours he was crouching at the 
water’s edge waiting for an opportunity to capture 
Pisah, the fish, thinking that he would take it back 
with him to the hut where the girl could cook it for 
herself and her companion. 

Motionless as a bronze statue was the wily ape- 
man, for well he knew how wary is Pisah, the fish. 
The slightest movement would frighten him away 
and only by infinite patience might he be captured 
at all. Tarzan depended upon his own quickness 
and the suddenness of his attack, for he had no bait 
or hook. His knowledge of the ways of the denizens 
of the water told him where to wait for Pisah. 
It might be a minute or it might be an hour before 
the fish would swim into the little pool above which 
he crouched, but sooner or later one would come. 
228 


USANGA^S REWARD 


229 


That the ape-man knew, so with the patience of the 
beast of prey he waited for his quarry. 

At last there was a glint of shiny scales. Pisah 
was coming. In a moment he would be within reach 
and then with the swiftness of light two strong, 
brown hands would plunge into the pool and seize 
him, but just at the moment that the fish was about 
to come within reach, there was a great crashing in 
the underbrush behind the ape-man. Instantly Pisah 
was gone and Tarzan, growling, had wheeled about 
to face whatever creature might be menacing him. 
The moment that he turned he saw that the author 
of the disturbance was Zu-tag. 

‘‘ What does Zu-tag want ? ” asked the ape-man. 

“ Zu-tag comes to the water to drink,’^ replied the 
ape. 

“Where is the tribe.?” asked Tarzan. 

“They are hunting for pisangs and scimatines 
farther back in the forest,” replied Zu-tag. 

“And the Tarmangani she and bull — ” asked 
Tarzan, “are they safe.?” 

“ They have gone away,” replied Zu-tag. “ Kudu 
has come out of his lair twice since they left.” 

“Did the tribe chase them away.?” asked Tarzan. 

“No,” replied the ape. “We did not see them 
go. We do not know why they left.” 

Tarzan swung quickly through the trees toward 
the clearing. The hut and boma were as he had left 
tiiem, but there was no sign of either the man or 
woman. Crossing the clearing, he entered the boma 
and then the hut. Both were empty, and his trained 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


nostrils told him that they had been gone for at 
least two days. As he was about to leave the hut 
he saw a paper pinned upon the wall with a sliver 
of wood and taking it down, he read : 


After what you told me about Miss Kircher, and knowing 
that you dislike her, I feel that it is not fair to her and to 
you that we should impose longer upon you. I know that our 
presence is keeping you from continuing your journey to the 
west coast, and so I have decided that it is better for us to 
try and reach the white settlements immediately without impos- 
ing further upon you. We both thank you for your kindness 
and protection. If there was any way that I might repay 
the obligation I feel, I should be only too glad to do so. 


It was signed by Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith- 
Oldwick. 

Tarzan shrugged his shoulders, crumpled the note 
in his hand and tossed it aside. He felt a certain 
sense of relief from responsibility and was glad that 
they had taken the matter out of his hands. They 
were gone and he would forget, but somehow he 
could not forget. He walked out across the boma 
and into the clearing. He felt uneasy and restless. 
Once he started toward the north in response to a 
sudden determination to continue his way to the 
west coast. He would follow the winding river 
toward the north a few miles where its course turned 
to the west and then on toward its source across a 
wooded plateau and up into the foothills and the 
mountains. Upon the other side of the range he 
would search for a stream running downward toward 
the west coast, and thus following the rivers he 
would be sure of game and water in plenty. 


USANGA^S REWARD 


231 


But he did not go far. A dozen steps, perhaps, 
and he came to a sudden stop. “ He is an English- 
man,” he muttered, “ and the other is a woman. 
They can never reach the settlements without my 
help. I could not kill her with my own hands 
when I tried and if I let them go on alone, 1 will 
have killed her just as surely as though I had run 
my knife into her heart. No,” and again he shook 
his head. “ Tarzan of the Apes is a fool and a 
weak, old woman,” and he turned back toward the 
south. 

Manu, the monkey, had seen the two Tarmangani 
pass two days before. Chattering and scolding, he 
told Tarzan all about it. They had gone in the 
direction of the village of the Gomangani, that much 
had Manu seen with his own eyes, so the ape-man 
swung on through the jungle in a southerly direction 
and though with no concentrated effort to follow 
the spoor of those he trailed, he passed numerous 
evidences that they had gone this way — faint sug- 
gestions of their scent spoor clung lightly to leaf or 
branch or bole that one or the other had touched, or 
in the earth of the trail their feet had trod, and 
where the way wound through the gloomy depth of 
dank forest, the impress of their shoes still showed 
occasionally in the damp mass of decaying vegeta- 
tion that floored the way. 

An inexplicable urge spurred Tarzan to increas- 
ing speed. The same still, small voice that chided 
him for having neglected them seemed constantly 
whispering that they were in dire need of him now. 


232 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Tarzan’s conscience was troubling him which afe-^ 
counted for the fact that he compared himself to a 
weak, old woman, for the ape-man, reared in savage- 
ry and inured to hardships and cruelty, disliked to 
admit any of the gentler traits that in reality were 
his birthright. 

The trail made a detour to the east of the village 
of the Wamabos, and then returned to the wide ele- 
phant path nearer to the river where it continued 
in a southerly direction for several miles. At last 
there came to the ears of the ape-man a peculiar 
whirring, throbbing sound. For an instant he 
paused, listening intently, “An aeroplane!” he mut- 
tered, and hastened forward at greatly increased 
speed. 

When Tarzan of the Apes finally reached the edge 
of the meadowland where Smith-Oldwick’s plane had 
landed, he took in the entire scene in one quick 
glance and grasped the situation although he could 
scarce give credence to the things he saw. Bound 
and helpless the English officer lay upon the ground 
at one side of the meadow while around him stood 
a number of the black deserters from the German 
command. Tarzan had seen these men before and 
knew who they were. Coming toward him down 
the meadow was an aeroplane piloted by the black 
Usanga and in the seat behind the pilot was the 
white girl, Bertha Kircher. How it befell that the 
ignorant savage could operate the plane, Tarzan 
could not guess nor had he time in which to specu- 
late upon the subject. His knowledge of Usanga, 


USANGA^S REWARD 


233 


together with the position of the white man, told 
him that the black sergeant was attempting to carry 
off the white girl. Why he should be doing this when 
he had her in his power and had also captured and 
secured the only creature in the jungle who might 
wish to defend her in so far as the black could know, 
Tarzaii could not guess for he knew nothing of 
Usanga’s twenty-four dream wives nor of the black’s 
fear of the horrid temper of Naratu, his present 
mate. He did not know, then, that Usanga had 
determined to fly away with the white girl never to 
return, and to put so great a distance between him- 
self and Naratu that the latter never could find him 
again; but it was this very thing that was in the 
black’s mind although not even his own warriors 
guessed it. He had told them that he would take the 
captive to a sultan of the north and there obtain 
a great price for her and that when he returned 
they should have some of the spoils. 

These things Tarzan did not know. All he knew 
was what he saw — a Negro attempting to fly awaj” 
with a white girl. Already the machine was slowly 
leaving the ground. In a moment more it would rise 
swiftly out of reach. At first Tarzan thought of 
fitting an arrow to his bow and slaying Usanga, but 
as quickly he abandoned the idea because he knew 
that the moment the pilot was slain the machine, 
running wild, would dash the girl to death among 
the trees. 

There was but one way in which he might hope to 
succor her — a way which if it failed must send him 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


to instant death and yet he did not hesitate in an 
attempt to put it into execution. 

Usanga did not see him, being too intent upon the 
unaccustomed duties of a pilot, but the blacks across 
the meadow saw him and they ran forward with loud 
and savage cries and menacing rifles to intercept 
him. They saw a giant white man leap from the 
branches of a tree to the turf and race rapidly 
toward the plane. They saw him take a long grass 
rope from about his shoulders as he ran. They saw 
the noose swinging in an undulating circle above his 
head. They saw the white girl in the machine glance 
down and discover him. 

Twenty feet above the running ape-man soared 
the huge plane. The open noose shot up to meet it, 
and the girl, half guessing the ape-man’s intentions, 
reached out and caught the noose and, bracing her- 
self, clung tightly to it with both hands. Simul- 
taneously Tarzan was dragged from his feet and 
the plane lurched sideways in response to the new 
strain. Usanga clutched wildly at the control and 
the machine shot upward at a steep angle. Dangling 
at the end of the rope the ape-man swung pendulum- 
like in space. The Englishman, lying bound upon 
the ground, had been a witness of all these happen- 
ings. His heart stood still as he saw Tarzan’s 
body hurtling through the air toward the tree tops 
among which it seemed he must inevitably crash ; 
but the plane was rising rapidly so that the beast- 
man cleared the top-most branches. Then slowly, 
hand over hand, he climbed toward the fuselage 


USANGA^S REWARD 


235 


The girl, clinging desperately to the noose, strained 
every muscle to hold the great weight dangling at 
the lower end of the rope. 

Usanga, all unconscious of what was going on 
behind him, drove the plane higher and higher into 
the air. 

Tarzan glanced downward. Below him the tree 
tops and the river passed rapidly to the rear and 
only a slender grass rope and the muscles of a frail 
girl stood between him and the death yawning there 
thousands of feet below. 

It seemed to Bertha Kircher that the fingers of her 
hands were dead. The numbness was running up her 
arms to her elbows. How much longer she could 
cling to the straining strands she could not guess. 
It seemed to her that those lifeless fingers must 
relax at any instant and then, when she had about 
given up hope, she saw a strong brown hand reach 
up and grasp the side of the fuselage. Instantly 
the weight upon the rope was removed and a moment 
later Tarzan of the Apes raised his body above the 
side and threw a leg over the edge. He glanced 
forward at Usanga and then, placing his mouth close 
to the girl’s ear he cried : “ Have you ever piloted a 
plane ? ” The girl nodded a quick affirmative. 

‘‘Have you the courage to climb up there beside 
the black and seize the control while I take care 
of him.?” 

The girl looked toward Usanga and shuddered. 
“Yes,” she replied, “but my feet are bound.” 

Tarzan drew his hunting knife from its sheath 


g36 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


and reaching down, severed the thongs that bound 
her ankles. Then the girl unsnapped the strap that 
held her to her seat. With one hand Tarzan grasped 
the girl’s arm and steadied her as the two crawled 
slowly across the few feet which intervened between 
the two seats. A single slight tip of the plane would 
have cast them both into eternity. Tarzan realized 
that only through a miracle of chance could they 
reach Usanga and effect the change in pilots and yet 
he knew that that chance must be taken, for in the 
brief moments since he had first seen the plane, he 
had realized that the blacjk was almost without ex- 
perience as a pilot and that death surely awaited 
them in any event should the black sergeant remain 
at the control. 

The first intimation Usanga had that all was not 
well with him was when the girl slipped suddenly 
to his side and grasped the control and at the same 
instant steel-like fingers seized his throat. A brown 
hand shot down with a keen blade and severed the 
strap about his waist and giant muscles lifted him 
bodily from his seat. Usanga clawed the air and 
shrieked but he was helpless as a babe. Far below 
the watchers in the meadow could see the aeroplane 
careening in the sky, for with the change of control 
it had taken a sudden dive. They saw it right itself 
and turning in a short circle return in their direc- 
tion, but it was so far above them and the light of 
the sun so strong that they could see nothing of what 
was going on within the fuselage; but presently 
Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick gave a gasp of dismay 


USANGA^S REWARD 


237 


as he saw a human body plunge downward from the 
plane. Turning and twisting in mid-air it fell with 
ever-increasing velocity and the Englishman held 
his breath as the thing hurtled toward them. 

With a muffled thud it flattened upon the turf 
near the center of the meadow, and when at last the 
Englishman could gain the courage to again turn 
his eyes upon it, he breathed a fervent prayer of 
thanks, for the shapeless mass that lay upon the 
blood-stained turf was covered with an ebon hide. 
Usanga had reaped his reward. 

Again and again the plane circled above the 
meadow. The blacks, at first dismayed at the death 
of their leader, were now worked to a frenzy of rage 
and a determination to be avenged. The girl and the 
ape-man saw them gather in a knot about the body 
of their fallen chief. They saw as they circled above 
the meadow the black fists shaken at them, and the 
rifles brandishing a menace toward them. Tarzan 
still clung to the fuselage directly behind the pilot’s 
seat. His face was close beside Bertha Kircher’s 
and at the top of his voice, above the noise of pro- 
peller, engine and exhaust, he screamed a few words 
of instruction into her ear. 

As the girl grasped the significance of his words 
she paled, but her lips set in a hard line and her eyes 
shone with a sudden fire of determination as she 
dropped the plane to within a few feet of the ground 
and at the opposite end of the meadow from the 
blacks and then at full speed bore down upon the 
savages. So quickly the plane came that Usanga’s 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


men had no time to escape it after they realized 
its menace. It touched the ground just as it struck 
among them and mowed through them, a veritable 
juggernaut of destruction. When it came to rest 
at the edge of the forest the ape-man leaped quickly 
to the ground and ran toward the young lieutenant, 
and as he went he glanced at the spot where the war- 
riors had stood, ready to defend himself if necessary, 
but there was none there to oppose him. Dead and 
dying they lay strewn for fifty feet along the turf. 

By the time Tarzan had freed the Englishman the 
girl joined them. She tried to voice her thanks to 
the ape-man but he silenced her with a gesture. 

“You saved yourself,” he insisted, “for had you 
been unable to pilot the plane, I could not have 
helped you and now,” he said, “you two have the 
means of returning to the settlements. The day is 
still young. You can easily cover the distance in a 
few hours if you have sufficient petrol.” He looked 
inquiringly toward the aviator. 

Smith-Oldwick nodded his head afiirmatively. “I 
have plenty,” he replied. 

“Then go at once,” said the ape-man. “Neither 
of you belongs in the jungle.” A slight smile touched 
his lips as he spoke. 

The girl and the Englishman smiled too. “This 
jungle is no place for us at least,” said Smith-Old- 
wick, “and it is no place for any other white man. 
Why don’t you come back to civilization with us?” 

Tarzan shook his head. “I prefer the jungle,” 
he said. 


USANGA^S REWARD 


239 


The aviator dug his toe into the ground and still 
looking down blurted something which he evidently 
hated to say. ‘‘If it is a matter of living, old top/’ 
he said, “er — money, er — you know ” 

Tarzan laughed. “No” he said. “I know what 
you are trying to say. It is not that. I was bom 
in the jungle. I have lived all my life in the jungle, 
and I shall die in the jungle. I do not wish to live 
or die elsewhere.” 

The others shook their heads. They could not 
understand him. 

“Go,” said the ape-man. “The quicker you go, 
the quicker you will reach safety.” 

They walked to the plane together. Smith-Old- 
wick pressed the ape-man’s hand and clambered into 
the pilot’s seat. “Good-bye,” said the girl as she 
extended her hand to Tarzan. “Before I go won’t 
you tell me that you don’t hate me any more?” 
Tarzan’s face clouded. Without a word he picked 
her up and lifted her to her place behind the English- 
man. An expression of pain crossed Bertha 
Kircher’s face. The motor started and a moment 
later the two were being home rapidly toward the 
east. 

In the center of the meadow stood the ape-man 
watching them. “It is too bad that she is a Ger- 
man and a spy,” he said. “ for she is very hard to 
hate.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


THE BLACK LION 

N UMA, the lion, was hungry. He had come 
out of the desert country to the east into 
a land of plenty but though he was young and 
strong, the wary grass-eaters had managed to elude 
his mighty talons each time he had thought to make 

a km. 

Numa, the lion, was hungry and very savage. 
For two days he had not eaten and now he hunted 
in the ugliest of humors. No more did Numa roar 
forth a rumbling challenge to the world but rather 
he moved silent and grim, stepping softly that no 
cracking twig might betray his presence to the keen- 
eared quarry he sought. 

Fresh was the spoor of Bara, the deer, that Numa 
picked up in the well-beaten game trail he was fol- 
lowing. No hour had passed since Bara came this 
way; the time could be measured in minutes and so 
the great lion redoubled the cautiousness of his 
advance as he crept stealthily in pursuit of his 
quarry. 

A light wind was moving through the jungle 
aisles, and it wafted down now to the nostrils of 
the eager carnivore the strong scent spoor of the 
240 


THE BLACK LION 


241 


deer, exciting his already avid appetite to a point 
where it became a gnawing pain. Yet Numa did not 
permit himself to be carried away by his desires into 
any premature charge such as had recently lost him 
the juicy meat of Pacco, the zebra. Increasing his 
gait but slightly he followed the tortuous windings 
of the trail until suddenly just before him, where 
the trail wound about the bole of a huge tree, he 
saw a young buck moving slowly ahead of him. 

Numa judged the distance with his keen eyes, 
glowing now like two terrible spots of yellow fire 
in his wrinkled, snarling face. He could do it — 
this time he was sure. One terrific roar that would 
paralyze the poor creature ahead of him into 
momentary inaction, and a simultaneous charge of 
lightning-like rapidity and Numa, the lion, would 
feed. The sinuous tail, undulating slowly at its 
tufted extremity, whipped suddenly erect. It was 
the signal for the charge and the vocal organs were 
shaped for the thunderous roar when, as lightning 
out of a clear sky, Sheeta, the panther, leaped sud- 
denly into the trail between Numa and the deer. 

A blundering charge made Sheeta, for with the 
first crash of his spotted body through the foliage 
verging the trail, Bara gave a single startled back- 
ward glance and was gone. 

The roar that was intended to paralyze the deer 
broke horribly from the deep throat of the great 
cat — an angry roar of rage against the meddling 
Sheeta who had robbed him of his kill, and the 
charge that was intended for Bara was launched 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


against the panther; but here too Numa was doomed 
to disappointment, for with the first notes of his 
fearsome roar Sheeta, considering well the better 
part of valor, leaped into a near-by tree, 

A half-hour later it was a thoroughly furious 
Numa who came unexpectedly upon the scent of man. 
Heretofore the lord of the jungle had disdained 
the unpalatable flesh of the despised man-thing. 
Such meat was only for the old, the toothless, and 
decrepit who no longer could make their kills among 
the fleet-footed grass-eaters. Bara, the deer, Horta, 
the boar, and, best and wariest, Pacco, the zebra, 
were for the young, the strong, and the agile, but 
Numa was hungry — hungrier than he ever had 
been in the five short years of his life. 

What if he was a young, powerful, cunning, and 
ferocious beast? In the face of hunger, the great 
leveler, he was as the old, the toothless, and the 
decrepit. His belly cried aloud in anguish and his 
jowls slavered for flesh. Zebra or deer or man, what 
mattered it so that it was warm flesh, red with the 
hot juices of life? Even Dango, the hyena, eater of 
offal, would, at that moment, have seemed a tidbit 
to Numa. 

The great lion knew the habits and frailties of 
man though he never before had hunted man for 
food. He knew the despised Gomangani as the slow- 
est, the most stupid, and defenseless of creatures. 
No woodcraft, no cunning, no stealth was necessary 
in the hunting of man, nor had Numa any stomach 
for either delay or silence. 


THE BLACK LION 


24f3 


His rage had become an almost equally consuming 
passion with his hunger so that now, as his delicate 
nostrils apprised him of the recent passage of man, 
he lowered his head and rumbled forth a thunderous 
roar and at a swift walk, careless of the noise he 
made, set forth upon the trail of his intended quarry. 

Majestic and terrible, regally careless of his sur- 
roundings, the king of beasts strode down the beaten 
trail. The natural caution that is inherent to all 
creatures of the wild had deserted him. What had 
he, lord of the jungle, to fear and, with only man to 
hunt, what need of caution? And so he did not see 
or scent what a more wary Numa might readily 
have discovered until, with the cracking of twigs and 
a tumbling of earth, he was precipitated into a cun- 
ningly devised pit that the wily Wamabos had 
excavated for just this purpose in the center of the 
game trail. 

Tarzan of the Apes stood in the center of the 
clearing watching the plane shrinking to diminutive 
toylike proportions in the eastern sky. He had 
breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it rise safely 
with the British flier and Fraulein Bertha Kircher. 
For weeks he had felt the hampering responsibility 
of their welfare in this savage wilderness where their 
utter helplessness would have rendered them easy 
prey for the savage carnivora or the cruel Wamabos. 
Tarzan of the Apes loved unfettered freedom, and 
now that these two were safely off his hands, he felt 
that he could continue upon his journey toward the 


244 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


west coast and the long-untenanted cabin of his 
dead father. 

And yet, as he stood there watching the tiny speck 
in the east, another sigh heaved his broad chest, nor 
was it a sigh of relief but rather a sensation which 
Tarzan had never expected to feel again and which 
he now disliked to admit even to himself. It could 
not be possible that he, the jungle bred, who had 
renounced forever the society of man to return to his 
beloved beasts of the wilds, could be feeling anything 
akin to regret at the departure of these two, or 
any slightest loneliness now that they were gone. 
Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick Tarzan had 
liked, but the woman whom he had known as a Ger- 
man spy he had hated, though he never had found 
it in his heart to slay her as he had sworn to slay all 
Huns, He had attributed this weakness to the fact 
that she was a woman, although he had been rather 
troubled by the apparent inconsistency of his hatred 
for her and his repeated protection of her when 
danger threatened. 

With an irritable toss of his head he wheeled 
suddenly toward the west as though by turning his 
back upon the fast disappearing plane he might 
expunge thoughts of its passengers from his mem- 
ory. At the edge of the clearing he paused ; a giant 
tree loomed directly ahead of him and, as though 
actuated by sudden and irresistible impulse, he 
leaped into the branches and swung himself with 
apelike agility to the topmost limbs that would sus- 
tain his weight. There, balancing lightly upon a 


THE BLACK LION 


9A5 


swaying bough, he sought in the direction of the 
eastern horizon for the tiny speck that would be 
the British plane bearing away from him the last 
of his own race and kind that he expected ever again 
to see. 

At last his keen eyes picked up the ship flying 
at a considerable altitude far in the east. For a 
few seconds he watched it speeding evenly eastward, 
when, to his horror, he saw the speck dive suddenly 
downward. The fall seemed interminable to the 
watcher and he realized how great must have been 
the altitude of the plane before the drop commenced. 
Just before it disappeared from sight its downward 
momentum appeared to abate suddenly, but it was 
still moving rapidly at a steep angle when it finally 
disappeared from view behind the far hills. 

For half a minute the ape-man stood noting dis- 
tant landmarks that he judged might be in the vicin- 
ity of the fallen plane, for no sooner had he realized 
that these people were again in trouble than his 
inherent sense of duty to his own kind impelled him 
once more to forego his plans and seek to aid them. 

The ape-man feared from what he judged of the 
location of the machine that it had fallen among 
the almost impassable gorges of the arid country 
just beyond the fertile basin that was bounded by 
the hills to the east of him. He had crossed that 
parched and desolate country of the dead himself 
and he knew from his own experience and the narrow 
escape he had had from succumbing to its relentless 
cruelty no lesser man could hope to win his way to 


246 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


safety from any considerable distance within its 
borders. Vividly he recalled the bleached bones of 
the long-dead warrior in the bottom of the pre- 
cipitous gorge that had all but proved a trap for him 
as well. He saw the helmet of hammered brass and 
the corroded breastplate of steel and the long 
straight sword in its scabbard and the ancient har- 
quebus — mute testimonials to the mighty physique 
and the warlike spirit of him who had somehow won, 
thus illy caparisoned and pitifully armed, to the cen- 
ter of savage, ancient Africa ; and he saw the slender 
English youth and the slight figure of the girl cast 
into the same fateful trap from which this giant of 
old had been unable to escape — cast there wounded 
and broken perhaps, if not killed. 

His judgment told him that the latter possibility 
was probably the fact and yet there was a chance 
that they might have landed without fatal injuries, 
and so upon this slim chance he started out upon 
what he knew would be an arduous journey, fraught 
with many hardships and unspeakable peril, that 
he might attempt to save them if they still lived. 

He had covered a mile perhaps when his quick ears 
caught the sound of rapid movement along the game 
trail ahead of him. The sound, increasing in vol- 
ume, proclaimed the fact that whatever caused it 
was moving in his direction and moving rapidly. 
Nor was it long before his trained senses convinced 
him that the footfalls were those of Bara, the deer, 
in rapid flight. Inextricably confused in Tarzan’s 
character were the attributes of man and of beasts^ 


THE BLACK LION 


247 


Long experience had taught him that he fights best 
or travels fastest who is best nourished, and so, with 
few exceptions, Tarzan could delay his most urgent 
business to take advantage of an opportunity to kill 
and feed. This perhaps was the predominant beast 
trait in him. The transformation from an English 
gentleman, impelled by the most humanitarian mo- 
tives, to that of a wild beast crouching in the con- 
cealment of a dense bush ready to spring upon iti 
approaching prey, was instantaneous. 

And so, when Bara came, escaping the clutches of 
Numa and Sheeta, his terror and his haste precluded 
the possibility of his sensing that other equally for- 
midable foe lying in ambush for him. Abreast of 
the ape-man came the deer ; a light-brown body shot 
from the concealing verdure of the bush, strong arms 
encircled the sleek neck of the young buck and pow- 
erful teeth fastened themselves in the soft flesh. 
Together the two rolled over in the trail and a 
moment later the ape-man rose, and, with one foot 
upon the carcass of his kill, raised his voice in the 
victory cry of the bull ape. 

Like an answering challenge came suddenly to the 
ears of the ape-man the thunderous roar of a lion, 
a hideous angry roar in which Tarzan thought that 
he discerned a note of surprise and terror. In the 
breast of the wild things of the jungle, as in the 
breasts of their more enlightened brothers and sis- 
ters of the human race, the characteristic of curios- 
ity is well developed. Nor was Tarzan far from 
innocent of it. The peculiar note in the roar of his 


248 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


hereditary enemy aroused a desire to investigate, 
and so, throwing the carcass of Bara, the deer, 
across his shoulder, the ape-man took to the lower 
terraces of the forest and moved quickly in the 
direction from which the sound had come, which 
was in line with the trail he had set out upon. 

As the distance lessened, the sounds increased ia 
volume, which indicated that he was approaching u 
very angry lion and presently, where a jungle giant 
overspread the broad game trail that countless 
thousands of hoofed and padded feet had worn and 
trampled into a deep furrow during perhaps count- 
less ages, he saw beneath him the lion pit of the 
Wamabos and in it, leaping futilely for freedom such 
a lion as even Tarzan of the Apes never before had 
beheld. A mighty beast it was that glared up at the 
ape-man — large, powerful and young, with a huge 
black mane and a coat so much darker than any Tar- 
zan ever had seen that in the depths of the pit it 
looked almost black — a black lion ! 

Tarzan who had been upon the point of taunting 
and reviling his captive foe was suddenly turned to 
open admiration for the beauty of the splendid beast. 
What a creature ! How by comparison the ordinary 
forest lion was dwarfed into insignificance! Her# 
indeed was one worthy to be called king of beasts. 
With his first sight of the great cat the ape-man 
knew that he had heard no note of terror in that 
initial roar ; surprise doubtless, but the vocal chord? 
of that mighty throat never had reacted to fear. 

With growing admiration came a feeling of quicK 


THE BLACK LION 


^49 


pity for + -e hapless situation of the great brute 
rendered futile and helpless by the wiles of tht 
Gomangani. Enemy though the beast was, he wac 
less an enemy to the ape-man than those blacks 
who had trapped him, for though Tarzan of the 
Apes claimed many fast and loyal friends among 
certain tribes of African natives, there were others 
of degraded character and bestial habits that he 
looked upon with utter loathing, and of such were 
the human flesh-eaters of Numabo the chief. For a 
moment Numa, the lion, glared ferociously at the 
naked man-thing upon the tree limb above him. 
Steadily those yellow-green eyes bored into the clear 
eyes of the ape-man, and then the sensitive nostrils 
caught the scent of the fresh blood of Bara and the 
eyes moved to the carcass lying across the brown 
shoulder, and there came from the cavernous depths 
of the savage throat a low whine. 

Tarzan of the Apes smiled. As unmistakal^ly as 
though a human voice had spoken, the lion had said 
to him ‘‘ I am hungry, even more than ‘ hungry. 
I am starving,’^ and the ape-man looked down upon 
the lion beneath him and smiled, a slow quizzical 
smile, and then he shifted the carcass from his 
shoulder to the branch before him and, drawing the 
long blade that had been his father’s, deftly cut off 
a hind quarter and, wiping the bloody blade upon 
Bara’s smooth coat, he returned it to its scabbard. 
Numa, with watering jaws, looked up at the tempt- 
ing meat and whined again and the ape-man smiled 
down upon him his slow smile and, yaising the hind 


250 


TARZAN THE UNTAMp^d 


quarter in his strong brown hands burieq His teeth in 
the tender, juicy flesh. 

For the third time Numa, the lion, uttered that 
low pleading whine and then, with a rueful and dis- 
gusted shake of his head, Tarzan of the Apes raised 
the balance of the carcass of Bara, the deer, and 
hurled it to the famished beast below. 

“Old woman,’’ muttered the ape-man. “Tarzan 
has become a weak old woman. Presently he would 
shed tears because he has killed Bara, the deer. He 
cannot see Numa, his enemy, go hungry because 
Tarzan’s heart is turning to water by contact with 
the soft, weak creatures of civilization ; ” but yet he 
smiled. Nor was he sorry that he had given way 
to the dictates of a kindly impulse. 

As Tarzan tore the flesh from that portion of 
the kill he had retained for himself his eyes were 
taking in each detail of the scene below. He saw 
the avidity with which Numa devoured the carcass; 
he noted with growing admiration the finer points 
of the beast, and also the cunning construction of 
the trap. The ordinary lion pit with which Tarzan 
was familiar had stakes imbedded in the bottom, 
upon whose sharpened points the hapless lion would 
be impaled, but this pit was not so made. Here 
the short stakes were set at intervals of about a foot 
around the walls near the top, their sharpened points 
inclining downward so that the lion had fallen un*" 
hurt into the trap but could not leap out because 
each time he essayed it his head came in contact 
with the sharp end of a stake above him. 


THE BLACK LION 


251 


Evidently, then, the purpose of the Wamabos was 
to capture a lion alive. As this tribe had no contact 
whatsoever with white men in so far as Tarzan knew, 
their motive was doubtless due to a desire to tor- 
ture the beast to death that they might enjoy to 
the utmost his djung agonies. 

Having fed the lion it presently occurred to Tar- 
zan that his act would be futile were he to leave the 
beast to the mercies of the blacks, and then too it oc- 
curred to him that he could derive more pleasure 
through causing the blacks discomfiture than by 
leaving Numa to his fate. But how was he to re^ 
lease him? By removing two stakes there would be 
left plenty of room for the lion to leap from the 
pit, which was not of any great depth. However, 
what assurance had Tarzan that Numa would not 
leap out instantly the way to freedom was open, 
and before the ape-man could gain the safety of the 
trees? Regardless of the fact that Tarzan felt 
no such fear of the lion as you and I might ex- 
perience under like circumstances, he yet was imbued 
with the sense of caution that is necessary to all 
creatures of the wild if they are to survive. Should 
necessity require, Tarzan could face Numa in battle, 
although he was not so egotistical as to think that 
he could best a full-grown lion in mortal combat 
other than through accident or the utilization of 
the cunning of his superior man-mind. To lay him- 
self liable to death futilely, he would have con- 
sidered as reprehensible as to have shunned danger 
•n time of necessity ; but when Tarzan elected to do 


252 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


a thing he usually found the means to accomplish it. 

He had now fully determined to liberate Numa, 
and having so determined, he would accomplish it 
even though it entailed considerable personal risk. 
He knew that the lion would be occupied with his 
feeding for some time, but he also knew that while 
feeding he would be doubly resentful of any fancied 
interference. Therefore Tarzan must work with, 
caution. 

Coming to the ground at the side of the pit, he 
examined the stakes and as he did so was rather 
surprised to note that Numa gave no evidence of 
anger at his approach. Once he turned a searching 
gaze upon the ape-man for a moment and then re- 
turned to the flesh of Bara. Tarzan felt of the 
stakes and tested them with his weight. He pulled 
upon them with the muscles of his strong arms, 
presently discovering that by working them back 
and forth he could loosen them: and then a new 
plan was suggested to him so that he fell to work 
excavating with his knife at a point above where one 
of the stakes was imbedded. The loam was soft and 
easily removed, and it was not long until Tarzan had 
exposed that part of one of the stakes which was 
imbedded in the wall of the pit to almost its entire 
length, leaving only enough imbedded to prevent the 
stake from falling into the excavation. Then he 
turned his attention to an adjoining stake and soon 
had it similarly exposed, after which he threw the 
noose of his grass rope over the two and swung 
quickly to the branch of the tree above. Here he 


THE BLACK LION 


253 


gathered in the slack of the rope and, bracing him- 
self against the bole of the tree, pulled steadily 
upward. Slowly the stakes rose from the trench 
in which they were imbedded and with them rose 
Numa’s suspicion and growling. 

Was this some new encroachment upon his rights 
and his liberties ? He was puzzled and, like all lions, 
being short of temper, he was irritated. He had 
not minded it when the Tarmangani squatted upon 
the verge of the pit and looked down upon him, for 
had not this Tarmangani fed him.^^ But now some- 
thing else was afoot and the suspicion of the wild 
beast was aroused. As he watched, however, Numa 
saw the stakes rise slowly to an erect position, tumble 
against each other and then fall backwards out of 
his sight upon the surface of the ground above. In- 
stantly the lion grasped the possibilities of the situa- 
tion, and, too, perhaps he sensed the fact that the 
man-thing had deliberately opened a way for his 
escape. Seizing the remains of Bara in his great 
jaws, Numa, the lion, leaped agilely from the pit 
of the Wamabos and Tarzan of the Apes melted 
into the jungles to the east. 

On the surface of the ground or through the sway- 
ing branches of the trees the spoor of man or beast 
was an open book to the ape-man, but even his 
acute senses were baffled by the spoorless trail of 
the airship. Of what good were eyes, or ears, or 
the sense of smell in following a thing whose path 
had lain through the shifting air thousands of feet 
above the tree tops? Only upon his sense of di- 


254 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


rection could Tarzan depend in his search for tho 
fallen plane. He could not even judge accurately 
as to the distance it might lie from him, and he 
knew that from the moment that it disappeared be- 
yond the hills it might have traveled a considerable 
distance at right angles to its original course before 
it crashed to earth. If its occupants were killed 
or badly injured the ape-man might search futilely 
in their immediate vicinity for some time before find- 
ing them. 

There was but one thing to do and that was to 
travel to a point as close as possible to where he 
judged the plane had landed, and then to follow 
in ever-widening circles until he picked up their scent 
spoor. And this he did. 

Before he left the valley of plenty he made several 
kills and carried the choicest cuts of meat with him, 
leaving all the dead weight of bones behind. The 
dense vegetation of the jungle terminated at the 
foot of the western slope, growing less and less 
abundant as he neared the summit beyond which was 
a sparse growth of sickly scrub and sunburned 
grasses, with here and there a gnarled and hardy 
tree that had withstood the vicissitudes of an almost 
waterless existence. 

From the summit of the hills Tarzan’s keen eyes 
searched the arid landscape before him. In the 
distance he discerned the ragged tortuous lines that 
marked the winding course of the hideous gorges 
which scored the broad plain at intervals — the ter- 
rible gorges that had so nearly claimed his life in 


THE BLACK LION 


255 


punishment for his temerity in attempting to invade 
the sanctity of their ancient solitude. 

For two days Tarzan sought futilely for some 
clew to the whereabouts of the machine or its occu- 
pants. He cached portions of his kills at different 
points, building cairns of rock to mark their loca- 
tions. He crossed the first deep gorge and circled 
far beyond it. Occasionally he stopped and called 
aloud, listening for some response but only silence 
rewarded him — a sinister silence that his cries only 
accentuated. 

Late in the evening of the second day he came 
to the well-remembered gorge in which lay the clean- 
picked bones of the ancient adventurer, and here, for 
the first time. Ska, the vulture, picked up his trail. 
“ Not this time. Ska,” cried the ape-man in a taunt- 
ing voice, “for now indeed is Tarzan Tarzan. Be- 
fore, you stalked the grim skeleton of a Tarmangani 
and even then you lost. Waste not your time upon 
Tarzan of the Apes in the full of his strength. But 
still Ska, the vulture, circled and soared above him, 
and the ape-man notwithstanding his boasts, felt 
a shudder of apprehension. Through his brain ran 
a persistent and doleful chant to which he involun- 
tarily set two words, repeated over and over again 
in horrible monotony: “Ska knows! Ska knows!” 
until, shaking himself in anger, he picked up a rock 
and hurled it at the grim scavenger. 

Lowering himself over the precipitous side of the 
gorge Tarzan half clambered and half slid to th^ 
sandy floor beneath. He had come upon the rif v 


S56 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


at almost the exact spot at which he had clambered 
from it weeks before, and there he saw, just as he 
had left it, just, doubtless, as it had lain for cen- 
turies, the mighty skeleton and its mighty armor. 

As he stood looking down upon this grim re- 
minder that another man of might had succumbed to 
the cruel powers of the desert, he was brought to 
startled attention by the report of a firearm, the 
sound of which came from the depths of the gorge 
to the south of him, and reverberated along the steep 
walls of the narrow rift. 


CHAPTER XV 


MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS 


S THE British plane piloted by Lieutenant 



Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick rose above the 


jungle wilderness where Bertha Kircher’s life had 
so often been upon the point of extinction, and sped 
toward the east, the girl felt a sudden contraction 
of the muscles of her throat. She tried very hard 
to swallow something that was not there. It seemed 
strange to her that she should feel regret in leaving 
behind her such hideous perils, and yet it was plain 
to her that such was the fact, for she was also 
leaving behind something beside the dangers that 
had menaced her — a unique figure that had entered 
her life, and for which she felt an unaccountable 
attraction. 

Before her in the pilot’s seat sat an English officer 
and gentleman whom, she knew, loved her, and yet 
she dared to feel regret in his company at leaving 
the stamping ground of a wild beast! 

Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick, on his part, was in 
the seventh heaven of elation. He was in possession 
again of his beloved ship, he was flying swiftly in 
the direction of his comrades and his duty, and 
with him was the woman he loved. The fly in the 


258 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


ointment, however, was the accusation Tarzan had 
made against this woman. He had said that she was 
a German, and a spy, and from the heights of bliss 
the English officer was occasionally plunged to the 
depths of despair in contemplation of the inevitable 
were the ape-man’s charges to prove true. He found 
himself torn between sentiments of love and honor. 
On the one hand he could not surrender the woman 
he loved to the certain fate that must be meted out 
to her if she were in truth an enemy spy, while 
on the other it would be equally impossible for 
him as an Englishman and an officer to give her 
aid or protection. 

The young man contented himself therefore with 
repeated mental denials of her guilt. He tried to 
convince himself that Tarzan was mistaken, and when 
he conjured upon the screen of recollection the face 
of the girl behind him, he was doubly reassured that 
those lines of sweet femininity and character, those 
clear and honest eyes, could not belong to one of 
the hated alien race. 

And so they sped toward the east, each wrepped 
in his own thoughts. Below them they saw the dense 
vegetation of the jungle give place to the sciintier 
growth upon the hillside, and then before them there 
spread the wide expanse of arid waste-lands marked 
by the deep scarring of the narrow gorges that long- 
gone rivers had cut there in some forgotten age. 

Shortly after they passed the summit of the ridge 
which formed the boundary between the desert and 
the fertile country, Ska, the vulture, winging his 


MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS 


259 


Way at a high altitude toward his aerie, caught sight 
of a strange new bird of gigantic proportions en- 
croaching upon the preserves of his aerial domain. 
Whether with intent to give battle to the interloper 
or merely impelled by curiosity, Ska rose suddenly 
upward to meet the plane. Doubtless he misjudged 
the speed of the newcomer, but be that as it may, 
the tip of the propeller blade touched him and simul- 
taneously many things happened. The lifeless body 
of Ska, torn and bleeding, dropped plummet-like 
toward the ground; a bit of splintered spruce drove 
backward to strike the pilot on the forehead; the 
plane shuddered and trembled and as Lieutenant 
Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick sank forward in mo- 
mentary unconsciousness the shio dived headlong 
toward the earth. 

Only for an instant was the pilot unconscious, 
but that instant almost proved their undoing. When 
he awoke to a realization of their peril it was also 
to discover that his motor had stalled. The plane 
had attained frightful momentum, and the ground 
seemed too close for him to hope to flatten out 
in time to make a safe landing. Directly beneath 
him was a deep rift in the plateau, a narrow gorge, 
the bottom of which appeared comparatively level 
and sand covered. 

In the brief instant in which he must reach a 
decision, the safest plan seemed to attempt a landing 
in the gorge, and this he did, but not without con- 
siderable damage to the plane and a severe shaking- 
up for himself and his passenger. 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


mo 


Fortunately neither of them was injured but their 
condition seemed indeed a hopeless one. It was a 
grave question as to whether the man could repair 
his plane and continue the journey, and it seemed 
equally questionable as to their ability either to pro- 
ceed on foot to the coast or retrace their way to the 
country they had just left. The man was confident 
that they could not hope to cross the desert country 
to the east in the face of thirst and hunger, while 
behind them in the valley of plenty lay almost equal 
danger in the form of carnivora and the warlike 
natives. 

After the plane came to its sudden and disastrous 
stop, Smith-Oldwick turned quickly to see what the 
effect of the accident had been on the girl. He found 
her pale but smiling, and for several seconds the two 
sat looking at each other in silence. 

^‘This is the end?” the girl asked. 

The Englishman shook his head. “It is the end 
of the first leg, anyway,” he replied. 

“But you can’t hope to make repairs here,” she 
said dubiously. 

“No,” he said, “not if they amount to anything, 
but I may be able to patch it up. I will have to look 
her over a bit first. Let us hope there is nothing 
serious. It’s a long, long way to the Tanga railway.” 

“We would not get far,” said the girl, a slight 
note of hopelessness in her tone. “ Entirely unarmed 
as we are, it would be little less than a miracle if 
we covered even a small fraction of the distance.” 

“ But we are not unarmed,” replied the man. “ I 


MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS 


261 


have an extra pistol here, that the beggars didn’t 
discover,” and, removing the cover of a compart- 
ment, he drew forth an automatic. 

Bertha Kircher leaned back in her seat and 
laughed aloud, a mirthless, half-hysterical laugh. 
‘‘That popgun!” she exclaimed. “What earthly 
good would it do other than to infuriate any beast 
of prey you might happen to hit with it.?” 

Smith-Oldwick looked rather crestfallen. “But 
it is a weapon,” he said. “You will have to admit 
that, and certainly I could kill a man with it.” 

“You could if you happened to hit him,” said 
the girl, “ or the thing didn’t j am. Really, I haven’t 
much faith in an automatic. I have used them my- 
self.” 

“Oh, of course,” he said ironically, “an express 
rifle would be better, for who knows but we might 
meet an elephant here in the desert.” 

The girl saw that he was hurt and she was sorry, 
for she realized that there was nothing he would 
not do in her service or protection, and that it was 
through no fault of his that he was so illy armed. 
Doubtless, too, he realized as well as she the futility 
of his weapon, and that he had only called attention 
to it in the hope of reassuring her and lessening 
her anxiety. 

“Forgive me,” she said, “I did not mean to be 
nasty, but this accident is the proverbial last straw. 
It seems to me that I have borne all that I can. 
Though I was willing to give my life in the service 
of my country, I did not imagine that my deay* 


262 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


agonies would be so long drawn out for I realize 
now that I have been dying for many weeks.” 

‘‘What do you mean,” he exclaimed; “what do 
you mean by that. You are not dying. There is 
nothing the matter with you.” 

“Oh, not that,” she said, “I did not mean that. 
What I mean is that at the moment the black ser- 
geant, Usanga, and his renegade German native 
troops captured me and brought me inland, my 
death warrant was signed. Sometimes I have real- 
ized that a reprieve has been granted. Sometimes 
I have hoped that I might be upon the verge of 
winning a full pardon, but really in the depths of 
my heart I have known that I should never live to 
regain civilization. I have done my bit for my 
country and though it was not much I can at least 
go with the realization that it was the best I was 
able to offer. All that I can hope for now, all that 
I ask for, is a speedy fulfillment of the death sen- 
tence. I do not wish to linger any more to face con- 
stant terror and apprehension. Even physical tor- 
ture would be preferable to what I have passed 
through. I have no doubt that you consider me a 
brave woman, but really my terror has been bound- 
less. The cries of the carnivora at night fill me with 
a dread so tangible that I am in actual pain. J 
feel the rending talons in my flesh and the cruel 
fangs munching upon my bones — it is as real to 
me as though I were actually enduring the horrors of 
such a death. I doubt if you can understand it— < 
men are so different.” 


MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS 


26S 


‘‘Yes,” he said, “I think I can understand it, 
and because I understand I can appreciate more 
than you imagine the heroism you have shown in 
your endurance of all that you have passed through. 
There can be no bravery where there is no fear. 
A child might walk into a lion’s den, but it would 
take a very brave man to go to its rescue.” 

“Thank you,” she said, “but I am not brave at 
all, and now I am very much ashamed of my thought- 
lessness for your own feelings. I will try and take 
u new grip upon myself and we will both hope for 
the best. I will help you all I can if you will tell 
me what I may do.” 

“The first thing,” he replied, “is to find out just 
how serious our damage is, and then to see what we 
can do in the way of repairs.” 

For two days Smith-Oldwick worked upon the 
damaged plane — worked in the face of the fact that 
from the first he realized the case was hopeless. And 
at last he told her. 

“I knew it,” she said, “but I believe that I felt 
much as you must have; that however futile our ef- 
forts here might be, it would be infinitely as fatal to 
attempt to retrace our way to the jungle we just left 
or to go on toward the coast. You know and I 
know that we could not reach the Tanga railway 
on foot. We should die of thirst and starvation be- 
fore we had covered half the distance, and if we 
return to the jungle even were we able to reach it, 
it would be but to court an equally certain, though 
different, fate.” 


g64 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


“So we might as well sit here and wait for death 
as to uselessly waste our energies in what we know 
would be a futile attempt at escape?” he asked. 

“No,” she replied, “I shall never give up like 
that. What I meant was that it was useless to at- 
tempt to reach either of the places where we know 
that there is food and water in abundance, so we 
must strike out in a new direction. Somewhere there 
may be water in this wilderness and if there is, the 
best chance of our finding it would be to follow this 
gorge downward. We have enough food and water 
left, if we are careful of it, for a couple of days and 
in that time we might stumble upon a spring or pos- 
sibly even reach the fertile country which I know 
lies to the south. WTien Usanga brought me to the 
Wamabo country from the coast he took a southerly 
route along which there was usually water and game 
in plenty. It was not until we neared our des- 
tination that the country became overrun with car- 
nivora. So there is hope if we can reach the fertile 
country south of us that we can manage to pull 
through to the coast.” 

The man shook his head dubiously. “ We can try 
it,” he said. “Personally, I do not fancy sitting 
here waiting for death.” 

Smith-Oldwick was leaning against the ship, his 
dejected gaze directed upon the ground at his feet. 
The girl was looking south down the gorge in the 
direction of their one slender chance of life. Sud- 
denly she touched him on the arm. 

“Look,” she whispered. 


MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS 


265 


The man raised his eyes quickly in the direction 
of her gaze to see the massive head of a great lion 
who was regarding them from beyond a rocky pro- 
jection at the first turning of the gorge. 

“Phew!” he exclaimed, “the beggars are every- 
where.” 

“ They do not go far from water do they,” asked 
the girl hopefully. 

“I should imagine not,” he replied; “a lion is 
not particularly strong on endurance.” 

“ Then he is a harbinger of hope,” she exclaimed. 

The man lauded. “Cute little harbinger of 
hope!” he said. “Reminds me of Cock Robin her- 
alding spring.” 

The girl cast a quick glance at him. “Don’t be 
silly, and I don’t care if you do laugh. He fills 
me with hope.” 

“It is probably mutual,” replied Smith-Oldwick, 
“ as we doubtless fill him with hope.” 

The lion evidently having satisfied himself as to 
the nature of the creatures before him advanced 
slowly now in their direction. 

“Come,” said the man, “let’s climb aboard,” and 
he helped the girl over the side of the ship. 

“Can’t he get in here.?” she asked. 

“I think he can,” said the man. 

“You are reassuring,” she returned. 

“I don’t feel so.” He drew his pistol. 

“For heaven’s sake,” she cried, “don’t shoot at 
him with that thing. You might hit him,” 

“I don’t intend to shoot at him but I might 


266 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


succeed in frightening him away if he attempts to 
reach us here. Haven’t you ever seen a trainer 
work with lions He carries a silly little pop-gun 
loaded with blank cartridges. With that and a 
kitchen chair he subdues the most ferocious of 
beasts.” 

“But you haven’t a kitchen chair,” she reminded 
him. 

“No,” he said, “Government is always muddling 
things. I have always maintained that airplanes 
should be equipped with kitchen chairs.” 

Bertha Kircher laughed as evenly and with as 
little hysteria as though she were moved by the 
small talk of an afternoon tea. 

Numa, the lion, came steadily toward them; his 
attitude seemed more that of curiosity than of bel- 
ligerency. Close to the side of the ship he stopped 
and stood gazing up at them. 

“Magnificent, isn’t he?” exclaimed the man. 

“ I never saw a more beautiful creature,” she re- 
plied, “nor one with such a dark coat. Why, he 
is almost black.” 

The sound of their voices seemed not to please 
the lord of the jungle, for he suddenly wrinkled his 
great face into deep furrows as he bared his fangs 
beneath snarling lips and gave vent to an angry 
growl. Almost simultaneously he crouched for a 
spring and immediately Smith-Oldwick discharged 
his pistol into the ground in front of the lion. 
The effect of the noise upon Numa seemed but to 
enrage him further, and with a horrid roar he sprang 


MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS 


267 


for the author of the new and disquieting sound that 
had outraged his ears. 

Simultaneously Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith- 
Oldwick vaulted nimbly out of the cockpit on the 
opposite side of hi& plane, calling to the girl to fol- 
low his example. The girl, realizing the futility of 
leaping to the ground, chose the remaining alterna- 
tive and clambered to the top of the upper plane. 

Numa, unaccustomed to the idiosyncrasies of con- 
struction of an airship and having gained the for- 
ward cockpit, watched the girl clamber out of his 
reach without at first endeavoring to prevent her. 
Having taken possession of the plane his anger 
seemed suddenly to leave him and he made no im- 
mediate move toward following Smith-Oldwick. The 
girl, realizing the comparative safety of her posi- 
tion, had crawled to the outer edge of the wing and 
was calling to the man to try and reach the opposite 
end of the upper plane. 

It was this scene upon which Tarzan of the Apes 
looked as he rounded the bend of the gorge above 
the plane after the pistol shot had attracted his 
attention. The girl was so intent upon watching 
the efforts of the Englishman to reach a place of 
safety, and the latter was so busily occupied in at- 
tempting to do so that neither at once noticed the 
silent approach of the ape-man. 

It was Numa who first noticed the intruder. The 
lion immediately evinced his displeasure by directing 
toward him a snarling countenance and a series of 
warning growls. His action called the attention of 


268 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


the two upon the upper plane to the newcomer, 
eliciting a stifled ‘‘ Thank God ! ” from the girl, even 
though she could scarce credit the evidence of her 
own eyes that it was indeed the savage man, whose 
presence always assured her safety, who had come 
so providentially in the nick of time. 

Almost immediately both were horrified to see 
Numa leap from the cockpit and advance upon Tar- 
zan. The ape-man, carrying his stout spear in 
readiness, moved deliberately onward to meet the car- 
nivore, which he had recognized as the lion of the 
Wamabos’ pit. He knew from the manner of Numa’s 
approach what neither Bertha Kircher nor Smith- 
Oldwick knew — that there was more of curiosity 
than belligerency in it, and he wondered if in that 
great head there might not be a semblance of grati- 
tude for the kindness that Tarzan had done him. 

There was no question in Tarzan’s mind but that 
Numa recognized him, for he knew his fellows of the 
jungle well enough to know that while they ofttimes 
forgot certain sensations more quickly than man 
there are others which remain in their memories for 
years. A well-defined scent spoor might never be 
forgotten by a beast if it had first been sensed under 
unusual circumstances, and so Tarzan was confident 
that Numa’s nose had already reminded him of all 
the circumstances of their brief connection. 

Love of the sporting chance is inherent in the 
Anglo-Saxon race and it was not now Tarzan of the 
Apes but rather John Clayton, Lord Grey stoke, who 
smilingly welcomed the sporting chance which he 


MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS 


269 


must take to discover how far-reaching was Numa’s 
gratitude. 

Smith-Oldwick 'and the girl saw the two nearing 
each other. The former swore softly beneath his 
breath while he nervously fingered the pitiful weapon 
at his hip. The girl pressed her open palms to her 
cheeks as she leaned forward in stony-eyed, horror- 
stricken silence. While she had every confidence in 
the prowess of the godlike creature who thus dared 
brazenly to face the king of beasts, she had no false 
conception of what must certainly happen when they 
met. She had seen Tarzan battle with Sheeta, the 
panther, and she had realized then that powerful 
as the man was, it was only agility, cunning, and 
chance that placed him upon anywhere near an equal 
footing with his savage adversary, and that of the 
three factors upon his side chance was the greatest 

She saw the man and the lion stop simultaneously, 
not more than a yard apart. She saw the beast’s 
tail whipping from side to side and she could hear 
his deep-throated growls rumbling from his cavernous 
breast, but she could read correctly neither the move- 
ment of the lashing tail nor the notes of the growl. 

To her they seemed to indicate nothing but bestial 
rage while to Tarzan of the Apes they were con- 
ciliatory and reassuring in the extreme. And then 
she saw Numa move forward again until his nose 
touched the man’s naked leg and she closed her eyes 
and covered them with her palms. For what seemed 
an eternity she waited for the horrid sound of the 
conflict which she knew must come, but all she heard 


270 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


was an explosive sigh of relief from Smith-Oldwick 
and a half-hysterical “By Jove! Just fancy it!” 

She looked up to see the great lion rubbing his 
shaggy head against the man’s hip, and Tarzan’s 
free hand entangled in the black mane as he scratched 
Numa, the lion, behind a back-laid ear. 

Strange friendships are often formed between the 
lower animals of different species, but less often be- 
tween man and the savage carnivora, because of the 
former’s inherent fear of the great cats. And so 
after all, therefore, the friendship so suddenly de- 
veloped between the savage lion and the savage man 
was not inexplicable. 

As Tarzan approached the plane Numa walked 
at his side, and when Tarzan stopped and looked 
up at the girl and the man Numa stopped also. 

“I had about given up hope of finding you,’^ 
said the ape-man, “and it is evident that I found 
you just in time.” 

“But how did you know we were in trouble.?” 
asked the English ofiicer. 

“I saw your plane fall,” replied Tarzan. “I 
was watching you from a tree beside the clearing 
where you took off. I didn’t have much to locate 
you by other than the general direction, but it 
seems that you volplaned a considerable distance 
toward the south after you disappeared from my 
view behind the hills. I have been looking for you 
further toward the north. I was just about to turn 
back when I heard your pistol shot. Is your ship 
beyond repair?” 


MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS 


271 


“Yes,” replied Smith-Oldwick, “it is hopeless.” 

“What are jour plans, then.?’ What do you wish 
to do.J^” Tarzan directed his question to the gin. 

“We want to reach the coast,” she said, “but 
it seems impossible now.” 

“I should have thought so a little while ago,” 
replied the ape-man, “but if Numa is here there 
must be water within a reasonable distance. I ran 
across this lion two days ago in the Wamabo 
country. I liberated him from one of their pits. To 
have reached this spot he must have come by some 
trail unknown to me — at least I crossed no game 
trail and no spoor of any animal after I came over 
the hills out of the fertile country. From which di- 
rection did he come upon you.'^” 

“It was from the south,” replied the girl. “We 
thought too that there must be water in that di- 
rection.” 

“Let’s find out then,” said Tarzan. 

“But how about the lion.f^” asked Smith-Oldwick. 

“That we will have to discover,” replied the ape- 
man, “ and we can only do so if you will come down 
from your perch.” 

The officer shrugged his shoulders. The girl 
turned her gaze upon him to note the effect of Tar- 
zan’s proposal. The Englishman grew suddenly 
very white, but there was a smile upon his lips as 
without a word he slipped over the edge of the plane 
and clambered to the ground behind Tarzan. 

Berth-a Kircher realized that the man was afraid 
nor did she blame him, and she also realized the re- 


272 


TARZAlSr THE UNTAMED 


markable courage that he had shown in thus facing 
a danger that was very real to him. 

Numa standing close to Tarzan’s side raised his 
head and glared at the young Englishman, growled 
once, and looked up at the ape-man. Tarzan re- 
tained a hold upon the beast’s mane and spoke to 
him in the language of the great apes. To the girl 
and Smith-Oldwick the growling gutturals falling 
from human lips sounded uncanny in the extreme, 
but whether Numa understood them or not they ap- 
peared to have the desired effect upon him as he 
ceased his growling, and as Tarzan walked to Smith- 
Oldwick’s side Numa accompanied him, nor did he 
offer to molest the officer. 

“What did you say to him.?” asked the girl. 

Tarzan smiled. “I told him,” he replied, “that 
I am Tarzan of the Apes, mighty hunter, killer of 
beasts, lord of the jungle, and that you are my 
friends. I have never been sure that all of the other 
beasts understand the language of the Mangani. I 
know that Manu, the monkey, speaks nearly the same 
tongue and I am sure that Tantor, the elephant, 
understands all that I say to him. We of the jungle 
are great boasters. In our speech, in our carriage, 
in every little detail of our demeanor we must im- 
press others with our physical power and our 
ferocity. That is why we growl at our enemies. We 
are telling them to beware or we shall fall upon them 
and tear them to pieces. Perhaps Numa does not 
understand the words that I use but I believe that 
my tones and my manner carry the impression that 


MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS 


273 


I wish them to convey. Now you may come down 
and be introduced.” 

It required all the courage that Bertha Kircher 
possessed to lower herself to the ground within reach 
of the talons and fangs of this untamed forest beast, 
but she did it. Nor did Numa do more than bare 
his teeth and growl a little as she came close to the 
ape-man. 

‘‘ I think you are safe from him as long as I am 
present,” said the ape-man. “ The best thing to do 
is simply to ignore him. Make no advances, but be 
sure to give no indication of fear and, if possible 
always keep me between you and him. He will go 
away presently I am sure and the chances are that 
we shall not see him again.” 

At Tarzan’s suggestion Smith-Oldwick removed 
the remaining water and provisions from the plane 
and, distributing the burden among them, they set 
off toward the south. Numa did not follow them, 
but stood by the plane watching until they finally 
disappeared from view around a bend in the 
gorge. 

Tarzan had picked up Numa’s trail with the in- 
tention of following it southward in the belief that 
‘it would lead to water. In the sand that floored the 
bottom of the gorge tracks were plain and easily 
followed. At first only the fresh tracks of Numa 
were visible, but later in the day the ape-man dis- 
covered the older tracks of other lions and just be- 
fore dark he stopped suddenly in evident surprise. 
His two companions looked at him questioningly, and 


274 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


in answer to their implied interrogations he pointed 
at the ground directly in front of him. 

“Look at those,” he exclaimed. 

At first neither Smith-Oldwick nor the girl saw 
anything but a confusion of intermingled prints of 
padded feet in the sand, but presently the girl dis- 
covered what Tarzan had seen, and an exclamation 
of surprise broke from her lips. 

“The imprint of human feet! she cried. 

Tarzan nodded. 

“ But there are no toes,” the girl pointed out. 

“The feet were shod with a soft sandal,” ex'* 
plained Tarzan. 

“Then there must be a native village somewhere 
in the vicinity,” said Smith-Oldwick. 

“Yes,” replied the ape-man, “but not the sort of 
natives which we would expect to find here in this 
part of Africa where others all go unshod with the 
exception of a few of Usanga’s renegade German 
native troops who wear German army shoes. I don’t 
know that you can notice it, but it is evident to me 
that the foot inside the sandal that made these im- 
prints was not the foot of a Negro. If you will 
examine them carefully you will notice that the im- 
pression of the heel and ball of the foot are well 
marked even through the sole of the sandal. The 
weight comes more nearly in the center of a Negro’s 
footprint.” 

“Then you think these were made by a white 
person? ” 

“It looks that way,” replied Tarzan, and sud- 


MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS 


S75 


denly, to the surprise of both the girl and Smith- 
Oldwick, he dropped to his hands and knees and 
sniffed at the tracks — again a beast utilizing the 
senses and woodcraft of a beast. Over an area of 
several square yards his keen nostrils sought the 
identity of the makers of the tracks. At length 
he rose to his feet. 

“It is not the spoor of the Gomangani,” he said, 
“nor is it exactly like that of white men. There 
were three who came this way. They were men, but 
of what race I do not know.” 

There was no apparent change in the nature of 
the gorge except that it had steadily grown deeper 
as they followed it downward until now the rocky 
and precipitous sides rose far above them. At dif- 
ferent points natural caves, which appeared to have 
been eroded by the action of water in some forgotten 
age, pitted the side walls at various heights. Near 
them was such a cavity at the ground’s level — an 
arched cavern floored with white sand. Tarzan in- 
dicated it with a gesture of his hand. 

“We will lair here tonight,” he said, and then 
with one of his rare, slow smiles: “We will camp 
here tonight.” 

Having eaten their meager supper Tarzan bade 
the girl enter the cavern. 

“ You will sleep inside,” he said. “ The lieutenant 
and I will lie outside at the entrance.” 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 


S THE girl turned to bid them good night, she 



jr\ thought that she saw a shadowy form moving 
in the darkness beyond them, and almost simul- 
taneously she was sure that she heard the sounds 
of stealthy movement in the same direction. 

‘‘What is that.'^’’ she whispered. “There is 
something out there in the darkness.” 

“ Yes,” replied Tarzan, “ it is a lion. It has been 
there for some time. Hadn’t you noticed it before? ” 

“ Oh ! ” cried the girl, breathing a sigh of relief, 
“it is our lion?” 

“No,” said Tarzan, “it is not our lion; it is an- 
other lion and he is hunting.” 

“ He is stalking us ? ” asked the girl. 

“ He is,” replied the ape-man. Smith-Oldwick fin- 
gered the grip of his pistol. 

Tarzan saw the involuntary movement and shook 
his head. 

“Leave that thing where it is. Lieutenant,” he 


said< 


The officer laughed nervously. “I couldn’t help 
it you know, old man,” he said; “instinct of self- 
preservation and all that.” 


276 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 


«77 


“ It would prove an instinct of self-destruction,” 
said Tarzan. “There are at least three hunting 
lions out there watching us. If we had a fire or the 
moon were up you would see their eyes plainly. Pres- 
ently they may come after us but the chances are 
that they will not. If you are very anxious that 
they should, fire your pistol and hit one of them.” 

What if they do charge ? ” asked the girl ; “ there 
is no means of escape.” 

“Why, we should have to fight them,” replied 
Tarzan. 

“ What chance would we three have against 
them ? ” asked the girl. 

The ape-man shrugged his shoulders. “ One must 
die sometime,” he said. “To you doubtless it may 
seem terrible — such a death; but Tarzan of the 
Apes has always expected to go out in some such 
way. Few of us die of old age in the jungle, nor 
should I care to die thus. Some day Numa will 
get me, or Sheeta, or a black warrior. These or 
some of the others. What difference does it make 
which it is, or whether it comes tonight or next year 
or in ten years After it is over it will be all the 
same.” 

The girl shuddered. “Yes,” she said in a dull, 
hopeless voice, “after it is over it will be all the 
same.” 

Then she went into the cavern and lay down upon 
the sand. Smith-Oldwick sat in the entrance and 
leaned against the cliff. Tarzan squatted on the 
opposite side. 


g78 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


“May I smoke?” questioned the officer of Tarzan. 
“I have been hoarding a few cigarettes and if it 
won’t attract those bounders out there I would like 
to have one last smoke before I cash in. Will you 
join me? ” and he proffered the ape-man a cigarette. 

“No, thanks,” said Tarzan, “but it will be all 
right if you smoke. No wild animal is particularly 
fond of the fumes of tobacco so it certainly won’t 
entice them any closer.” 

Smith-Oldwick lighted his cigarette and sat puffing 
slowly upon it. He had proffered one to the girl 
but she had refused, and thus they sat in silence for 
some time, the silence of the night ruffied occasionally 
by the faint crunching of padded feet upon the soft 
sands of the gorge’s floor. 

It was Smith-Oldwick who broke the silence. 
“Aren’t they unusually quiet for lions?” he asked. 

“No,” replied the ape-man; “the lion that goes 
roaring around the jungle does not do it to attract 
prey. They are very quiet when they are stalking 
their quarry.” 

“I wish they would roar,” said the officer. “I 
wish they would do anything, even charge. Just 
knowing that they are there and occasionally seeing 
something like a shadow in the darkness, and the 
faint sounds that come to us from them are getting 
on my nerves. But I hope,” he said, “ that all three 
don’t charge at once.” 

“Three?” said Tarzan. “There are seven of 
them out there now.” 

“Good Lord!” exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 


279 


“Couldn’t we build a fire,” asked the girl, “and 
frighten them away?” 

“I don’t know that it would do any good,” said 
Tarzan, “as I have an idea that these lions are a 
little different from any that we are familiar with 
and possibly for the same reason which at first 
puzzled me a little — I refer to the apparent docility 
in the presence of a man of the lion who was with 
us today. A man is out there now with those lions.” 

“ It is impossible ! ” exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. 
“ They would tear him to pieces.” 

“What makes you think there is a man there?” 
asked the girl. 

Tarzan smiled and shook his head. “ I am afraid 
you would not understand,” he replied. “It is diffi- 
cult for us to understand anything that is beyond 
our own powers.” 

“What do you mean by that?” asked the officer. 

“ Well,” said Tarzan, “ if you had been born with- 
out eyes you could not understand sense impressions 
that the eyes of others transmit to their brains, and 
as you have both been born without any sense of 
smell I am afraid you cannot understand how I can 
know that there is a man there.” 

“You mean that you scent a man?” asked the 
girl. 

Tarzan nodded affirmatively. 

“And in the same way you know the number of 
lions ? ” asked the man. 

“Yes,” said Tarzan. “No two lions look alike, 
no two have the same scent.” 


280 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


The young Englishman shook his head. ‘‘No,” 
he said, “I cannot understand.” 

“I doubt if the lions or the man are here neces- 
sarily for the purpose of harming us,” said Tarzan, 
“because there has been nothing to prevent their 
doing so long before had they wished to. I have a 
theory, but it is utterly preposterous.” 

“What is it?” asked the girl. 

“ I think they are here,” replied Tarzan, “ to pre- 
vent us from going some place that they do not wish 
us to go ; in other words we are under surveillance, 
and possibly as long as we don’t go where we are 
not wanted we shall not be bothered.” 

“ But how are we to know where they don’t want 
us to go?” asked Smith-Oldwick. 

“ We can’t know,” replied Tarzan, “ and the 
chances are that the very place we are seeking is 
the place they don’t wish us to trespass on.” 

“You mean the water?” asked the girl. 

“Yes,” replied Tarzan. 

For some time they sat in silence which was broken 
only by an occasional sound of movement from the 
outer darkness. It must have been an hour later 
that the ape-man rose quietly and drew his long 
blade from its sheath. Smith-Oldwick was dozing 
against the rocky wall of the cavern entrance while 
the girl, exhausted by the excitement and fatigue of 
the day, had fallen into deep slumber. An instant 
after Tarzan arose, Smith-Oldwick and the girl were 
aroused by a volley of thunderous roars and the noise 
of many padded feet rushing toward them. 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 


2Sl 


Tarzan of the Apes stood directly before the en- 
trance to the cavern, his knife in his hand, awaiting 
the charge. The ape-man had not expected any 
such concerted action as he now realized had been 
taken by those watching them. He had known for 
some time that other men had joined those who 
Were with the lions earlier in the evening, and when 
he arose to his feet it was because he knew that the 
lions and the men were moving cautiously closer to 
him and his party. He might easily have eluded 

them, for he had seen that the face of the cliff ris- 
ing above the mouth of the cavern might be scaled 
by as good a climber as himself. It might have been 
wiser had he tried to escape, for he knew that in the 
face of such odds even he was helpless, but he stood 
/}is ground though I doubt if he could have told why. 

He owed nothing either of duty or friendship to 
the girl sleeping in the cavern, nor could he longer 
be of any protection to her or her companion. Yet 
something held him there in futile self-sacrifice. 

The great Tarmangani had not even the satis- 
faction of striking a blow in self-defense. A veri- 
table avalanche of savage beasts rolled over him 
and threw him heavily to the ground. In falling his 
head struck the rocky surface of the cliff, stunning 
him. 

It was daylight when he regained consciousness. 
The first dim impression borne to his awakening mind 
was a confusion of savage sounds which gradually 
resolved themselves into the growling of lions, and 

then, little by little, there came back to him the 


282 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


recollections of what had preceded the blow that had 
felled him. 

Strong in his nostrils was the scent of Numa, the 
lion, and against one naked leg he could feel the 
coat of some animal. Slowly Tarzan opened his 
eyes. He was lying on his side and as he looked 
down his body, he saw that a great lion stood 
straddling him — a great lion who growled hideously 
at something which Tarzan could not see. 

With the full return of his senses Tarzan’s nose 
told him that the beast above him was Numa of the 
Wamabo pit. 

Thus reassured, the ape-man spoke to the lion and 
at the same time made a motion as though he would 
arise. Immediately Numa stepped from above him. 
As Tarzan raised his head, he saw that he still lay 
where he had fallen before the opening of the cliff 
where the girl had been sleeping and that Numa, 
backed against the cliffside, was apparently defend- 
ing him from two other lions who paced to and fro 
a short distance from their intended victim. 

And then Tarzan turned his eyes into the cave 
and saw that the girl and Smith-Oldwick were gone. 

His efforts and sacrifices had been for naught. 
With an angry toss of his head, the ape-man turned 
upon the two lions who had continued to pace back 
and forth a few yards from him. Numa of the lion 
pit turned a friendly glance in Tarzan’s direction, 
rubbed his head against the ape-man’s side, and then 
directed his snarling countenance toward the two 
hunters. 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 


‘‘ I think,” said Tarzan to Numa, “ that you and 
I together can make these beasts very unhappy.” 
He spoke in English which, of course, Numa did 
not imderstand at all, but there must have been 
something reassuring in the tone, for Numa whined 
pleadingly and moved impatiently to and fro parallel 
with their antagonists. 

‘‘Come,” said Tarzan suddenly and grasping the 
lion’s mane with his left hand he moved forward 
toward the other lions, his companion pacing at his 
side. As the two advanced the others drew slowly 
back and, finally separating, moved off to either side. 
Tarzan and Numa passed between them but neither 
the great black-maned lion nor the man failed to keep 
an eye upon the beast nearer him so that they were 
not caught unawares when, as though at some pre- 
concerted signal, the two cats charged simultaneously 
from opposite directions. 

The ape- man met the charge of his antagonist 
after the same fashion of fighting that he had been 
accustomed to employing in previous encounters with 
Numa and Sheet a. To have attempted to meet the 
full shock of a lion’s charge would have been suicidal 
even for the giant Tarmangani. Instead he resorted 
to methods of agility and cunning, for quick as are 
the great cats, even quicker is Tarzan of the Apes. 

With outspread, raking talons and bared fangs 
Numa sprang for the naked chest of the ape-man. 
Throwing up his left arm as a boxer might ward 
off a blow, Tarzan struck upward beneath the left 
forearm of the lion, at the same time rushing in 


284 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


with his shoulder beneath the animaPs body and 
simultaneously drove his blade into the tawny hide 
behind the shoulder. With a roar of pain Numa 
wheeled again, the personification of bestial rage. 
Now indeed would he exterminate this presumptions 
man-thing who dared even to think that he could 
thwart the king of beasts in his desires. But as 
he wheeled, his intended quarry wheeled with him, 
brown fingers locked in the heavy mane on the power- 
ful neck and again the blade struck deep into the 
lion’s side. 

Then it was that Numa went mad with hate and 
pain and at the same instant the ape-man leaped 
full upon his back. Easily before had Tarzan 
locked his legs beneath the belly of a lion while he 
clung to its long mane and stabbed it until his 
point reached its heart. So easy it had seemed be- 
fore that he experienced a sharp feeling of resent- 
ment that he was unable to do so now, for the quick 
movements of the lion prevented him, and presently, 
to his dismay, as the lion leaped and threw him 
about, the ape-man realized that he was swinging 
inevitably beneath those frightful talons. 

With a final effort he threw himself from Numa’s 
back and sought, by his quickness, to elude the 
frenzied beast for the fraction of an instant that 
would permit him to regain his feet and meet the 
animal again upon a more even footing. But this 
time Numa was too quick for him and he was but 
partially up when a great paw struck him on the 
side of the head and bowled him over. 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 


285 


As he fell he saw a black streak shoot above him 
and another lion close upon his antagonist. Rolling 
from beneath the two battling lions Tarzan regained 
his feet, though he was half dazed and staggering 
from the impact of the terrible blow he had received. 
Behind him he saw a lifeless lion lying tom and 
bleeding upon the sand, and before him Numa of 
the pit was savagely mauling the second lion. 

He of the black coat tremendously outclassed his 
adversary in point of size and strength as well as 
in ferocity. The battling beasts made a few feints 
and passes at each other before the larger succeeded 
in fastening his fangs in the other’s throat and then, 
as a cat shakes a mouse, the larger lion shook the 
lesser, and when his dying foe sought to roll beneath 
and rake his conqueror with his hind claws, the other 
met him halfway at his own game, and as the great 
talons buried themselves in the lower part of the 
other’s chest and then were raked downward with 
all the terrific strength of the mighty hind legs, the 
battle was ended. 

As Numa rose from his second victim and shook 
himself, Tarzan could not but again note the 
wondrous proportions and symmetry of the beast. 
The lions they had bested were splendid specimens 
themselves and in their coats Tarzan noticed a sug- 
gestion of the black which was such a strongly 
marked characteristic of Numa of the pit. Their 
manes were just a trifle darker than an ordinary 
black-maned lion but the tawny shade on the balance 
of their coats predominated. However^ the ape-man 


286 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


realized that they were a distinct species from any 
he had seen as though they had sprung originally 
from a cross between the forest lion of his acquaint- 
ance and a breed of which Numa of the pit might be 
typical. 

The immediate obstruction in his way having been 
removed, Tarzan was for setting out in search of 
the spoor of the girl and Smith-Oldwick that he 
might discover their fate. He suddenly found him- 
self tremendously hungry and as he circled about 
over the sandy bottom searching among the tangled 
network of innumerable tracks for those of his 
proteges y there broke from his lips involuntarily the 
whine of a hungry beast. Immediately Numa of the 
pit pricked up his ears and, regarding the ape-man 
steadily for a moment, he answered the call of hunger 
and started briskly off toward the south, stopping 
occasionally to see if Tarzan was following. 

The ape-man realized that the beast was leading 
him to food, and so he followed and as he followed 
his keen eyes and sensitive nostrils sought for some 
indication of the direction taken by the man and the 
girl. Presently out of the mass of lion tracks, Tar- 
zan picked up those of many sandled feet and the 
scent spoor of the members of the strange race such 
as had been with the lions the night before, and 
then faintly he caught the scent spoor of the girl 
and a little later that of Smith-Oldwick. Presently 
the tracks thinned and here those of the girl and the 
Englishman became well marked. 

They had been walking side by side and there had 


THE NIGHT ATTACK 


287 


been men and lions to the right and left of them, and 
men and lions in front and behind. The ape-man 
was puzzled by the possibilities suggested by the 
tracks, but in the light of any previous experience 
he could not explain satisfactorily to himself what 
his perceptions indicated. 

There was little change in the formation of the 
gorge ; it still wound its erratic course between pre- 
cipitous cliffs. In places it widened out and again 
it became very narrow and always deeper the farther 
south they traveled. Presently the bottom of the 
gorge began to slope more rapidly. Here and there 
were indications of ancient rapids and waterfalls. 
The trail became more difficult but was well marked 
and showed indications of great antiquity, and, in 
places, the handiwork of man. They had proceeded 
for a half or three-quarters of a mile when, at a 
turning of the gorge, Tarzan saw before him a 
narrow valley cut deep into the living rock of the 
earth’s crust with lofty mountain ranges bounding 
it upon the south. How far it extended east and 
west he could not see, but apparently it was no 
more than three or four miles across from north to 
south. 

That it was a well-watered valley was indicated 
by the wealth of vegetation that carpeted its floor 
from the rocky cliffs upon the north to the moun- 
tains on the south. 

Over the edge of the cliffs from which the ape-man 
viewed the valley a trail had been hewn that led 
downward to the base. Preceded by the lion Tarzan 


288 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


descended into the valley which, at this point, was 
forested with large trees. Before him the trail 
wound onward toward the center of the valley. 
Raucous-voiced birds of brilliant plumage screamed 
among the branches while innumerable monkeys chat- 
tered and scolded above him. 

The forest teemed with life and yet there was 
borne in upon the ape-man a sense of unutterable 
loneliness, a sensation that he never before had felt 
in his beloved jungles. There was unreality in every- 
thing about him — in the valley itself, lying hidden 
and forgotten in what was supposed to be an arid 
waste. The birds and the monkeys, while similar in 
type to many with which he was familiar, were iden- 
tical with none, nor was the vegetation without its 
idiosyncrasies. It was as though he had been sud- 
denly transported to another world and he felt a 
strange restlessness that might easily have been a 
premonition of danger. 

Fruits were growing among the trees and some 
of these he saw that Manu, the monkey, ate. Being 
hungry he swung to the lower branches and, amidst 
a great chattering of the monkeys, proceeded to eat 
such of the fruit as he saw the monkeys ate in safety. 
When he had partially satisfied his hunger, for meat 
alone could fully do so, he looked about him for 
Numa of the pit to discover that the lion had gone. 


CHAPTER XVn 


THE WALLED CITY 

D ropping to the ground once more he picked 
up the trail of the girl and her captors which 
he followed easily along what appeared to be a well- 
beaten trail. It was not long before he came to a 
small stream where he quenched his thirst, and there- 
after he saw that the trail followed in the general 
direction of the stream which ran southwesterly. 
Here and there were cross trails and others which 
joined the main avenue, and always upon each of 
them were the tracks and scent of the great cats, 
of Numa, the lion, and Sheeta, the panther. 

With the exception of a few small rodents there 
appeared to be no other wild life on the surface of 
the valley. There was no indication of Bara, the 
deer, or Horta, the boar, or of Gorgo, the buffalo, 
Buto, Tantor, or Duro. Histah, the snake, was 
there. He saw him in the trees in greater numbers 
than he ever had seen Histah before ; and once beside 
a reedy pool he caught a scent that could have 
belonged to none other than Gimla, the crocodile, but 
upon none of these did the Tarmangani care to feed. 

And so, as he craved meat, he turned his attention 
to the birds above him. His assailants of the night 
289 


290 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


before had not disarmed him. Either in the darkness 
and the rush of the charging lions the human foe 
had overlooked him or else they had considered him 
dead; but whatever the reason he still retained his 
weapons — his spear and his long knife, his bow and 
arrows, and his grass rope. 

Fitting a shaft to his bow Tarzan awaited an 
opportunity to bring down one of the larger birds, 
and when the opportunity finally presented itself 
he drove the arrow straight to its mark. As the 
gaily plumaged creature fluttered to earth its com- 
panions and the little monkeys set up a most terrific 
chorus of wails and screaming protests. The whole 
forest became suddenly a babel of hoarse screams 
and shrill shrieks. 

Tarzan would not have been surprised had one or 
two birds in the immediate vicinity given voice to 
terror as they fled, but that the whole life of the 
jungle should set up so weird a protest filled him 
with disgust. It was an angry face that he turned 
up toward the monkeys and the birds as there sud- 
denly stirred within him a savage inclination to voice i 
his displeasure and his answer to what he considered i 
their challenge. And so it was that there broke upon 
this jungle for the first time Tarzan’s hideous scream 
of victory and challenge. 

The effect upon the creatures above him was in- ^ 
stantaneous. Where before the air had trembled to I 
the din of their voices, now utter silence reigned and f 
a moment later the ape-man was alone with his puny ' 

kill. I 


THE WALLED CITY 


291 


The silence following so closely the previous 
tumult carried a sinister impression to the ape-man, 
which still further aroused his anger. Picking the 
bird from where it had fallen he withdrew his arrow 
from the body and returned it to his quiver. Then 
with his knife he quickly and deftly removed the 
skin and feathers together. He ate angrily, growl- 
ing as though actually menaced by a near-by foe, 
and perhaps, too, his growls were partially induced 
by the fact that he did not care for the flesh of birds. 
Better this, however, than nothing and from what his 
senses had told him there was no flesh in the vicinity 
such as he was accustomed to and cared most for. 
How he would have enjoyed a juicy haunch from 
Pacco, the zebra, or a steak from the loin of Gorgo, 
the buffalo! The very thought made his mouth 
water and increased his resentment against this 
unnatural forest that harbored no such delicious 
quarry. 

He had but partially consumed his kill when he 
suddenly became aware of a movement in the brush 
at no great distance from him and down wind, and 
a moment later his nostrils picked up the scent of 
Numa from the opposite direction, and then upon 
either side he caught the fall of padded feet and 
the brushing of bodies against leafy branches. The 
ape-man smiled. What stupid creature did they 
think him, to be surprised by such clumsy stalkers.? 
Gradually the sounds and the scents indicated that 
lions were moving upon him from all directions, 
that he was in the center of a steadily converging 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 




circle of beasts. Evidently they were so sure of 
their prey that they were making no effort toward 
stealth, for he heard twigs crack beneath their feet, 
and the brushing of their bodies against the vegeta- 
tion through which they forced their way. 

He wondered what could have brought them. It 
seemed unreasonable to believe that the cries of the 
birds and the monkeys should have summoned them, 
and yet, if not, it was indeed a remarkable coinci- 
dence. His judgment told him that the death of a 
single bird in this forest which teemed with birds 
could scarce be of sufficient moment to warrant that 
which followed. Yet even in the face of reason and 
past experience he found that the whole affair 
perplexed him. 

He stood in the center of the trail awaiting the 
coming of the lions and wondering what would be 
the method of their attack or if they would indeed 
attack. Presently a maned lion came into view along 
the trail below him. At sight of him the lion halted. 
The beast was similar to those that had attacked 
him earlier in the day, a trifle larger and a trifle 
darker than the lions of his native jungles, but 
neither so large nor so black as Numa of the pit. 

Presently he distinguished the outlines of. other 
lions in the surrounding brush and among the trees. 
Each of them halted as it came within sight of the 
ape-man and there they stood regarding him in 
silence. Tarzan wondered how long it would be 
before they charged and while he waited he resumed 
his feeding, though with every sense constantly alert. 


THE WALLED CITY 


293 


One by one the lions lay down, but always their 
faces were toward him and their eyes upon him. 
There had been no growling and no roaring — just 
the quiet drawing of the silent circle about him. It 
was all so entirely foreign to anything that Tarzan 
ever before had seen lions do that it irritated him so 
that presently, having finished his repast, he fell to 
making insulting remarks to first one and then 
another of the lions, after the habit he had learned 
from the apes of his childhood. 

“Dango, eater of carrion,” he called them, and 
he compared them most unfavorably with Histah, the 
snake, the most loathed and repulsive creature of 
the jungle. Finally he threw handfuls of earth at 
them and bits of broken twigs, and then the lions 
growled and bared their fangs, but none of them 
advanced. 

“Cowards,” Tarzan taunted them. “Numa 
with a heart of Bara, the deer.” He told them who 
he was, and after the manner of the jungle folk 
he boasted as to the horrible things he would 
do to them, but the lions only lay and watched 
him. 

It must have been a half hour after their coming 
that Tarzan caught in the distance along the trail 
the sound of footsteps approaching. They were 
the footsteps of a creature who walked upon two 
legs, and though Tarzan could catch no scent spoor 
from that direction he knew that a man was ap- 
proaching. Nor had he long to wait before his 
judgment was confirmed by the appearance of a man 


294 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


who halted in the trail directly behind the first lion 
that Tarzan had seen. 

At sight of the newcomer the ape-man realized 
that here was one similar to those who had given 
off the unfamiliar scent spoor that he had detected 
the previous night, and he saw that not only in the 
matter of scent did the man differ from other human 
beings with whom Tarzan was familiar. 

The fellow was strongly built with skin of a 
leathery appearance, like parchment yellowed with 
age. His hair, which was coal black and three or 
four inches in length, grew out stiffly at right angles 
to his scalp. His eyes were close set and the irises 
densely black and very small, so that the white 
of the eyeball showed around them. The man’s 
face was smooth except for a few straggly hairs 
on his chin and upper lip. The nose was aquiline 
and fine, but the hair grew so far down on the 
forehead as to suggest a very low and brutal type. 
The upper lip was short and fine while the lower 
lip was rather heavy and inclined to be pendulous, 
the chin being equally weak. Altogether the face 
carried the suggestion of a once strong and hand- 
some countenance entirely altered by physical vio- 
lence or by degraded habits and thoughts. The 
man’s arms were long, though not abnormally so, 
while his legs were short, though straight. 

He was clothed in tight-fitting nether garments 
and a loose, sleeveless tunic that fell just below his 
hips, while his feet were shod in soft-soled sandals, 
the wrappings of which extended halfway to his 


THE WALLED CITY 


S95 


knees, closely resembling a modern spiral military 
legging. He carried a short, heavy spear, and at 
his side swung a weapon that at first so astonished 
the ape-man that he could scarcely believe the evi- 
dence of his senses — a heavy saber in a leather-cov- 
ered scabbard. The man’s tunic appeared to have 
been fabricated upon a loom — it was certainly not 
made of skins, while the garments that covered his 
legs were quite as evidently made from the hides of 
rodents. 

Tarzan noted the utter unconcern with which the 
man approached the lions, and the equal indifference 
of Numa to him. The fellow paused for a moment 
as though appraising the ape-man and then pushed 
on past the lions, brushing against the tawny hide 
as he passed him in the trail. 

About twenty feet from Tarzan the man stopped, 
addressing the former in a strange jargon, no 
syllable of which was intelligible to the Tarmangani. 
His gestures indicated numerous references to the 
lions surrounding them and once he touched his spear 
with the forefinger of his left hand and twice he 
struck the saber at his hip. 

While he spoke Tarzan studied the fellow closely 
with the result that there fastened itself upon his 
mind a strange conviction — that the man who ad- 
dressed him was what might only be described as a 
rational maniac. As the thought came to the ape- 
man he could not but smile, so paradoxical the 
description seemed. Yet a closer study of the man’s 
features, carriage, and the contour of his head car- 


296 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


ried almost incontrovertibly the assurance that he 
was insane, while the tones of his voice and his ges- 
tures resembled those of a sane and intelligent 
mortal. 

Presently the man had concluded his speech and 
appeared to be waiting questioningly Tarzan’s reply. 
The ape-man spoke to the other first in the language 
of the great apes, but he soon saw that the words 
carried no conviction to his listener. Then with 
equal futility he tried several native dialects but to 
none of these did the man respond. 

By this time Tarzan began to lose patience. He 
had wasted sufficient time by the road, and as he had 
never depended much upon speech in the accomplish- 
ment of his ends, he now raised his spear and ad- 
vanced toward the other. This, evidently, was a 
language common to both, for instantly the fellow 
raised his own weapon and at the same time a low 
call broke from his lips, a call which instantly 
brought to action every lion in the hitherto silent 
circle. A volley of roars shattered the silence of 
the forest and simultaneously lions sprang into view 
upon all sides as they closed in rapidly upon their 
quarry. The man who had called them stepped 
back, his teeth bared in a mirthless grin. 

It was then that Tarzan first noticed that the fel- 
low’s upper canines were unusually long and exceed- 
ingly sharp. It was just a flashing glimpse he got 
of them as he leaped agilely from the ground and, 
to the consternation of both the lions and their mas- 
ter, disappeared in the foliage of the lower terrace, 


THE WALLED CITY 


297 


flinging back over his shoulder as he swung rapidly 
away: “I am Tarzan of the Apes; mighty hunter; 
mighty fighter! None in the jungle more powerful, 
none more cunning than Tarzan I ” 

A short distance beyond the point at which they 
had surrounded him, Tarzan came to the trail again 
and sought for the spoor of Bertha Kircher and 
Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick, He found them quickly 
and continued upon his search for the two. The 
spoor lay directly along the trail for another half- 
mile when the way suddenly debouched from the 
forest into open land and there broke upon the 
astonished view of the ape-man the domes and mina- 
rets of a walled city. 

Directly before him in the wall nearest him Tar- 
zan saw a low-arched gateway to which a well-beaten 
trail led from that which he had been following. In 
the open space between the forest and the city walls 
quantities of garden stuff was growing while before 
him at his feet, in an open man-made ditch, ran a 
stream of water ! The plants in the garden were laid 
out in well-spaced, symmetrical rows and appeared 
to have been given excellent attention and cultiva- 
tion. Tiny streams were trickling between the rows 
from the main ditch before him and at some distance 
to his right he could see people at work among 
the plants. 

The city wall appeared to be about thirty feet 
in height, its plastered expanse unbroken except by 
occasional embrasures. Beyond the wall rose the 
domes of several structures and numerous minarets 


S98 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


dotted the sky line of the city. The largest and 
central dome appeared to be gilded, while others were 
red, or blue, or yellow. The architecture of the 
wall itself was of uncompromising simplicity. It 
was of a cream shade and appeared to be plastered 
and painted. At its base was a line of well-tended 
shrubs and at some distance towards its eastern 
extremity it was vine covered to the top. 

As he stood in the shadow of the trail, his keen 
eyes taking in every detail of the picture before him, 
he became aware of the approach of a party in his 
rear and there was borne to him the scent of the 
man and the lions whom he had so readily escaped. 
Taking to the trees Tarzan moved a short distance 
to the west and, finding a comfortable crotch at the 
edge of the forest where he could watch the trail 
leading through the gardens to the city gate, he 
awaited the return of his would-be captors. And 
soon they came — the strange man followed by the 
pack of great lions. Like dogs they moved along 
behind him down the trail among the gardens to 
the gate. 

Here the man struck upon the panels of the door 
with the butt of his spear, and when it opened in 
response to his signal he passed in with his lions. 
Beyond the open door Tarzan, from his distant 
perch, caught but a fleeting glimpse of life within 
the city, just enough to indicate that there were 
other human creatures who abode there, and then the 
door closed. 

Through that door he knew that the girl and the 


THE WALLED CITY 


299 


man whom he sought to succor had been taken into 
the city. What fate lay in store for them or whether 
already it had been meted out to them he could not 
even guess, nor where, within that forbidding wall, 
they were incarcerated he could not know. But of 
one thing he was assured : that if he were to aid them 
he could not do it from outside the wall. He must 
gain entrance to the city first nor did he doubt, that 
once within, his keen senses would eventually reveal 
the whereabouts of those whom he sought. 

The low sun was casting long shadows across the 
gardens when Tarzan saw the workers returning 
from the eastern field. A man came first, and as he 
came he lowered little gates along the large ditch 
of running water, shutting off the streams that had 
run between the rows of growing plants ; and behind 
him came other men carrying burdens of fresh vege- 
tables in great woven baskets upon their shoulders. 
Tarzan had not realized that there had been so many 
men working in the field, but now as he sat there at 
the close of the day he saw a procession filing in 
from the east, bearing the tools and the produce 
back into the city. 

And then, to gain a better view, the ape-man 
ascended to the topmost branches of a tall tree where 
he overlooked the nearer wall. From this point of 
vantage he saw that the city was long and narrow, 
and that while the outer walls formed a perfect 
rectangle, the streets within were winding. Toward 
the center 5f the city there appeared to be a low, 
white buih^Vg around which the larger edifices of 


300 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


the city had been built, and here, in the fast-waning 
light, Tarzan thought that ^oetween two buildings he 
caught the glint of water, but of that he was not 
sure. His experience of the centers of civilization 
naturally inclined him to believe that this central 
area was a plaza about which the larger buildings 
were grouped and that there would be the most logi- 
cal place to search first for Bertha Kircher and her 
companion. 

And then the sun went down and darkness quickly 
enveloped the city — a darkness that was accentu- 
ated for the ape-man rather than relieved by the 
artificial lights which immediately appeared in many 
of the windows visible to him. 

Tarzan had noticed that the roofs of most of the 
buildings were flat, the few exceptions being those 
of what he imagined to be the more pretentious 
public structures. How this city had come to exist 
in this forgotten part of unexplored Africa the ape- 
man could not conceive. Better than another he 
realized something of the unsolved secrets of the 
Great Dark Continent, enormous areas of which have 
as yet been untouched by the foot of civilized man. 
Yet he could scarce believe that a city of this size 
and apparently thus well constructed could have 
existed for the generations that it must have been 
there, without intercourse with the outer world. 
Even though it was surrounded by a trackless desert 
waste, as he knew it to be, he could not conceive that 
generation after generation of men could be born and 
die there without attempting to solve tee mysteries 


THE WALLED CITY 


301 


of the world beyond the confines of their little valley. 

And yet, here was the city surrounded by tilled 
land and filled with people! 

With the coming of night there arose throughout 
the jungle the cries of the great cats, the voice of 
Numa blended with that of Sheeta, and the thunder- 
ous roars of the great males reverberated through 
the forest until the earth trembled, and from within 
the city came the answering roars of other lions. 

A simple plan for gaining entrance to the city had 
occurred to Tarzan, and now that darkness had 
fallen he set about to put it into effect. Its success 
hinged entirely upon the strength of the vines he 
had seen surmounting the wall toward the east. In 
this direction he made his way, while from out of the 
forest about him the cries of the flesh-eaters im 
creased in volume and ferocity. A quarter of a mile 
intervened between the forest and the city wall — a 
quarter of a mile of cultivated land unrelieved by 
a single tree. Tarzan of the Apes realized his limita- 
tions and so he knew that it would undoubtedly 
spell death for him to be caught in the open space 
by one of the great black lions of the forest if, as 
he had already surmised, Numa of the pit was a 
specimen of the forest lion of the valley. 

He must, therefore, depend entirely upon his cun- 
ning and his speed, and upon the chance that the 
vine would sustain his weight. 

He moved through the middle terrace, where the 
way is always easiest, until he reached a point oppo- 
site the vine-clad portion of the wall, and there he 


30S 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


waited, listening and scenting, until he might assure 
himself that there was no Numa within his immediate 
vicinity, or, at least, none that sought him. And 
when he was quite sure that there was no lion close 
by in the forest, and none in the clearing between 
himself and the wall, he dropped lightly to the 
ground and moved stealthily out into the open. 

The rising moon, just topping the eastern cliffs, 
cast its bright rays upon the long stretch of open 
garden beneath the wall. And, too, it picked out in 
clear relief for any curious eyes that chanced to be 
cast in that direction, the figure of the giant ape-man 
moving across the clearing. It was only chance, of 
course, that a great lion hunting at the edge of the 
forest saw the figure of the man halfway between the 
forest and the wall. Suddenly there broke upon 
Tarzan’s ears a menacing sound. It was not the roar 
of a hungry lion, but the roar of a lion in rage, 
and, as he glanced back in the direction from which 
the sound came, he saw a huge beast moving out from 
the shadow of the forest toward him. 

Even in the moonlight and at a distance Tarzan 
saw that the lion was huge; that it was indeed 
another of the black-maned monsters similar to 
Numa of the pit. For an instant he was impelled 
to turn and fight, but at the same time the thought 
of the helpless girl imprisoned in the city flashed 
through his brain and, without an instant’s hesita- 
tion, Tarzan of the Apes wheeled and ran for the 
wall. Then it was that Numa charged. 

Numa, tlie lion, can run swiftly for a short dis- 


THE WALLED CITY 


303 


tance, but he lacks endurance. For the period of 
an ordinary charge he can cover the ground with 
greater rapidity possibly than any other creature 
in the world. Tarzan, on the other hand, could 
run at great speed for long distances, though never 
as rapidly as Numa when the latter charged. 

The question of his fate, then, rested upon 
whether, with his start, he could elude Numa for a 
few seconds; and if so, if the lion would then have 
sufficient stamina remaining to pursue him at a re- 
duced gait for the balance of the distance to the 
wall. 

Never before, perhaps, was staged a more thrill- 
ing race, and yet, it was run with only the moon 
and stars to see. Alone and in silence the two beasts 
sped across the moonlit clearing. Numa gained 
with appalling rapidity upon the fleeing man, yet at 
every bound Tarzan was nearer to the vine-clad wall. 
Once the ape-man glanced back. Numa was so close 
upon him that it seemed inevitable that at the next 
bound he should drag him down ; so close was he that 
the ape-man drew his knife as he ran, that he might 
at least give a good account of himself in the last 
moments of his life. 

But Numa had reached the limit of his speed and 
endurance. Gradually he dropped behind but he did 
not give up the pursuit, and now Tarzan realized 
how much hinged upon the strength of the untested 
vines. 

If, at the inception of the race, only Goro and 
the stars had looked down upon the contestants, 


S04 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


such was not the case at its finish, since from an 
embrasure near the summit of the wall two close^set 
black eyes peered down upon the two. Tarzan was 
a dozen yards ahead of Numa when he reached the 
wall. There was no time to stop and institute a 
search for sturdy stems and safe handholds. His 
fate was in the hands of chance and with the realiza- 
tion he gave a final spurt and running catlike up 
the side of the wall among the vines, sought with 
his hands for something that would sustain his 
weight. Below him Numa leaped also. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


AMONG THE MANIACS 

A S THE lions swarmed over her protectors, 
Bertha Kircher shrank back in the cave in a 
momentary paralysis of fright superinduced, per- 
haps, by the long days of terrific nerve strain which 
she had undergone. 

Mingled with the roars of the lions had been the 
voices of men, and presently out of the confusion 
and turmoil she felt the near presence of a human 
being, and then hands reached forth and seized 
her. It was dark and she could see but little, nor 
any sign of the English officer or the ape-man. The 
man who seized her kept the lions from her with what 
appeared to be a stout spear, the haft of which he 
used to beat off the beasts. The fellow dragged 
her from the cavern the while he shouted what 
appeared to be commands and warnings to the lions. 

Once out upon the light sands of the bottom of 
the gorge objects became more distinguishable, and 
then she saw that there were other men in the party 
and that two half led and half carried the stumbling 
figure of a third, whom she guessed must be Smith- 
Oldwick. 

For a time the lions made frenzied efforts to 
«06 


306 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


reach the two captives but always the men with 
them succeeded in beating them off. The fellows 
seemed utterly unafraid of the great beasts leaping 
and snarling about them, handling them much the 
same as one might handle a pack of obstreperous 
dogs. Along the bed of the old watercourse that 
once ran through the gorge they made their way, 
and as the first faint lightening of the eastern hori- 
zon presaged the coming dawn, they paused for a 
moment upon the edge of a declivity, which appeared 
to the girl in the strange light of the waning night 
as a vast bottomless pit; but as their captors^ 
resumed their way and the light of the new day 
became stronger, she saw that they were moving 
downward toward a dense forest. 

Once beneath the over-arching trees all was again 
Cimmerian darkness, nor was the gloom relieved 
until the sun finally arose beyond the eastern cliffs, 
when she saw that they were following what appeared 
to be a broad and well-beaten game trail through a 
forest of great trees. The ground was unusually 
dry for an African forest and the underbrush, while 
heavily foliaged, was not nearly so rank and impene- 
trable as that which she had been accustomed to find 
in similar woods. It was as though the trees and 
the bushes grew in a waterless country, nor was 
there the musty odor of decaying vegetation or the 
myriads of tiny insects such as are bred in damp 
places. 

As they proceeded and the sun rose higher, the 
voices of the arboreal jungle life rose in discordant 


AMONG THE MANIACS 


307 


notes and loud chattering about them. Innumerable 
monkeys scolded and screamed in the branches over- 
head while harsh-voiced birds of brilliant plumage 
darted hither and thither. She noticed presently 
that their captors often cast apprehensive glances 
in the direction of the birds and on numerous occa- 
sions seemed to be addressing the winged denizens 
of the forest. 

One incident made a marked impression on her. 
The man who immediately preceded her was a fellow 
of powerful build yet, when a brilliantly colored par- 
rot swooped downward toward him he dropped upon 
his knees and covering his face with his arms bent 
forward until his head touched the ground. Some 
of the others looked at him and laughed nervously. 
Presently the man glanced upward and seeing that 
the bird had gone, rose to his feet and continued 
along the trail. 

It was at this brief halt that Smith-Oldwick was 
brought to her side by the men who had been sup- 
porting him. He had been rather badly mauled 
by one of the lions ; but was now able to walk alone, 
though he was extremely weak from shock and loss 
of blood. 

“Pretty mess, what.?^” he remarked with a wry 
smile, indicating his bloody and disheveled state. 

“ It is terrible,” said the girl. “ I hope you are 
not suffering.” 

“ Not as much as I should have expected,” he re- 
plied, “but I feel as weak as a fool. What sort 
of creatures are these beggars, anyway.?” 


308 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


“I don’t know,” she replied, ‘‘there is something 
terribly uncanny about their appearance.” 

The man regarded one of their captors closely for 
a moment and then, turning to the girl asked, “ Did 
you ever visit a madhouse ? ” 

She looked up at him in quick understanding 
and with a horrified expression in her eyes. “ That’s 
it!” she cried. 

“ They have all the ear-marks,” he said. “ Whites 
of the eyes showing all around the irises, hair grow- 
ing stiffly erect from the scalp and low down upon 
the forehead — even their mannerisms and their car- 
riage are those of maniacs.” 

The girl shuddered. 

“Another thing about them,” continued the Eng- 
lishman, “that doesn’t appear normal is that they 
are afraid of parrots and utterly fearless of lions.” 

“ Yes,” said the girl ; “ and did you notice that 
the birds seem utterly fearless of them — really seem 
to hold them in contempt ? Have you any idea what 
language they speak?” 

“ No,” said the man, “ I have been trying to figure 
that out. It’s not like any of the few native dialects 
of which I have any knowledge.” 

“ It doesn’t sound at all like the native language,” 
said the girl, “ but there is something familiar about 
it. You know, every now and then I feel that I am 
just on the verge of understanding what they are 
saying, or at least that somewhere I have heard their 
tongue before, but final recognition always eludes 
me.” 


AMONG THE MANIACS 


309 


“ I doubt if you ever heard their language 
spoken,” said the man. These people must have 
lived in this out-of-the-way valley for ages and 
even if they had retained the original language of 
their ancestors without change, which is doubtful, 
it must be some tongue that is no longer spoken in 
the outer world.” 

At one point where a stream of water crossed the 
trail the party halted while the lions and the men 
drank. They motioned to their captives to drink 
too, and as Bertha Kircher and Smith-Oldwick, lying 
prone upon the ground drank from the clear, cool 
water of the rivulet, they were suddenly startled by 
the thunderous roar of a lion a short distance ahead 
of them. Instantly the lions with them set up a 
hideous response, moving restlessly to and fro with 
their eyes always either turned in the direction from 
which the roar had come or toward their masters, 
against whom the tawny beasts slunk. The men 
loosened the sabers in their scabbards, the weapons 
that had aroused Smith-Oldwick’s curiosity as they 
had Tarzan’s, and grasped their spears more firmly. 

Evidently there were lions and lions, and while 
they evinced no fear of the beasts which accompanied 
them, it was quite evident that the voice of the 
newcomer had an entirely different effect upon them, 
although the men seemed less terrified than the lions. 
Neither however, showed any indication of an in- 
clination to flee; on the contrary the entire party 
advanced along the trail in the direction of the 
menacing roars, and presently there appeared in 


310 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


the center of the path a black lion of gigantic pro- 
portions. To Smith-Oldwick and the girl he ap- 
peared to be the same lion that they had encoun- 
tered at the plane and from which Tarzan had 
rescued them. But it was not Numa of the pit, 
although he resembled him closely. 

The black beast stood directly in the center of 
the trail lashing his tail and growling menacingly at 
the advancing party. The men urged on their own 
beasts, who growled and whined but hesitated to 
charge. Evidently becoming impatient, and in full 
consciousness of his might the intruder raised his 
tail stiffly erect and shot forward. Several of the 
defending lions made a half-hearted attempt to ob- 
struct his passage, but they might as well have 
placed themselves in the path of an express train, 
as hurling them aside the great beast leaped straight 
for one of the men. A dozen spears were launched 
at him and a dozen sabers leaped from their scab- 
bards; gleaming, razor-edged weapons they were, 
but for the instant rendered futile by the terrific 
speed of the charging beast. 

Two of the spears entering his body but served 
to further enrage him as, with demoniacal roars, he 
sprang upon the hapless man he had singled out for 
his prey. Scarcely pausing in his charge he seized 
the fellow by the shoulder and, turning quickly at 
right angles, leaped into the concealing foliage that 
flanked the trail, and was gone bearing his victim 
with him. 

So quickly had the whole occurrence transpired 


AMONG THE MANIACS 


311 


that the formation of the little party was scarcely 
altered. There had been no opportunity for flight, 
even if it had been contemplated ; and now that the 
Kon was gone with his prey the men made no move 
to pursue him. They paused only long enough to 
recall the two or three of their lions that had scat- 
tered and then resumed the march along the trail. 

“Might be an everyday occurrence from all the 
effect it has on them,’^ remarked Smith-Oldwick to 
the girl. 

“ Yes,” she said. “ They seem to be neither sur- 
prised nor disconcerted, and evidently they are quite 
sure that the lion, having got what he came for, 
will not molest them further.” 

“I had thought,” said the Englishman, “that 
the lions of the Wamabo country were about the 
most ferocious in existence, but they are regular 
tabby cats by comparison with these big black 
fellows. Did you ever see anything more utterly 
fearless or more terribly irresistible than that 
charge?” 

For a while as they walked side by side, their 
thoughts and conversation centered upon this latest 
experience, until the trail emerging from the forest 
opened to their view a walled city and an area of 
cultivated land. Neither could suppress an ex- 
clamation of surprise. 

“Why, that wall is a regular engineering job,” 
exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. 

“And look at the domes and minarets of the city 
beyond,” cried the girl. “ There must be a civilized 


S12 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


people beyond that wall. Possibly we are fortunate 
to have fallen into their hands.” 

Smith-Oldwick shrugged his shoulders. “I hope 
so,” he said, “though I am not at all sure about 
people who travel about with lions and are afraid of 
parrots. There must be something wrong with 
them.” 

The party followed the trail across the field to 
an arched gateway which opened at the summons of 
one of their captors who beat upon the heavy wooden 
panels with his spear. Beyond, the gate opened 
into a narrow street which seemed but a continuation 
of the jungle trail leading from the forest. Build- 
ings <vn either hand adjoined the wall and fronted 
\h€ narrow, winding street which was only visible 
for a short distance ahead. The houses were prac- 
tically all two-storied structures, the upper stories 
flush with the street while the walls of the first story 
were set back some ten feet, a series of simple col-« 
umns and arches supporting the front of the second 
story and forming an arcade on either side of the 
narrow thoroughfare. 

The pathway in the center of the street was 
unpaved, but the floor of the arcades were cut stone 
of various shapes and sizes but all carefully fitted 
and laid without mortar. These floors gave evidence 
of great antiquity, there being a distinct depression 
down the center as though the stone had been worn 
away by the passage of countless sandaled feet 
during the ages that it had lain there. 

There were few people astir at this early hour, 


AMONG THE MANIACS 


313 


and these were of the same type as their captors. 
At first those whom they saw were only men, but 
as they went deeper into the city they came upon 
a few naked children playing in the soft dust of the 
roadway. Many they passed showed the greatest 
surprise and curiosity in the prisoners, and often 
made inquiries of the guards, which the two assumed 
must have been in relation to themselves, while others 
appeared not to notice them at all. 

‘‘ I wish we could understand their bally lam 
guage,” exclaimed Smith-Oldwick. 

“Yes,” said the girl, “I would like to ask them 
what they are going to do with us.” 

“That would be interesting,” said the man. “1 
have been doing considerable wondering along that 
line myself.” 

“ I don’t like the way their canine teeth are filed,’ 
said the girl. “It’s too suggestive of some of the 
cannibals I have seen.” 

“You don’t really believe they are cannibals, do 
you?” asked the man. “You don’t think white 
people are ever cannibals, do you?” 

“Are these people white ? ” asked the girl. 

“They’re not Negroes, that’s certain,” rejoined 
the man. “Their skin is yellow, but yet it doesn’t 
resemble the Chinese exactly, nor are any- of their 
features Chinese.” 

It was at this juncture that they caught their 
first glimpse of a native woman. She was similar 
in most respects to the men though her stature 
1 was smaller and her figure more symmetrical. ' Hef 


814 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


face was more repulsive than that of the men, pos- 
sibly because of the fact that she was a woman, 
which rather accentuated the idiosyncrasies of eyes, 
pendulous lip, pointed tusks and stiff, low-growing 
hair. The latter was longer than that of the men 
and much heavier. It hung about her shoulders and 
was confined by a colored bit of some lacy fabric. 
Her single garment appeared to be nothing mor^ 
than a filmy scarf which was wound tightly around 
her body from below her naked breasts, being caught 
up some way at the bottom near her ankles. Bits 
of shiny metal resembling gold, ornamented both the 
headdress and the skirt. Otherwise the woman was 
entirely without jewelry. Her bare arms were slen- 
der and shapely and her hands and feet well propor^ 
tioned and symmetrical. 

She came close to the party as they passed her, 
Jabbering to the guards who paid no attention to 
her. The prisoners had an opportunity to observe 
her closely as she followed at their side for a short 
distance. 

“ The figure of a houri,” remarked Smith-Oldwick, 

“ with the face of an imbecile.” 

The street they followed was intersected at 
irregular intervals by crossroads which, as they 
glanced down them, proved to be equally as tortuous 
as that through which they were being conducted. 
The houses varied but little in design. Occasionally 
there were bits of color, or some attempt at other 
architectural ornamentation. Through open win- 
dows and doors they could see that the walls of the | 


AMONG THE MANIACS 


316 ' 


houses were very thick and that all apertures were 
quite small as though the people had built against 
extreme heat, which they realized must have been 
necessary in this valley buried deep in an African 
desert. 

Ahead they occasionally caught glimpses of larger 
structures, and as they approached them, came upon 
what was evidently a part of the business section of 
the city. There were numerous small shops and 
bazaars interspersed among the residences, and over 
the doors of these were signs painted in characters 
strongly suggesting Greek origin and yet it was not 
Greek as both the Englishman and the girl knew. 

Smith-Oldwick was by this time beginning to feel 
more acutely the pain of his wounds and the conse- 
quent weakness that was greatly aggravated by loss 
of blood. He staggered now occasionally and the 
girl, seeing his plight, offered him her arm. 

“ No,” he expostulated, “ you have passed through 
too much yourself to have any extra burden imposed 
upon you.” But though he made a valiant effort 
to keep up with their captors he occasionally lagged, 
and upon one such occasion the guards for the first 
time showed any disposition toward brutality. 

It was a big fellow who walked at Smith-Oldwick’s 
left. Several times he took hold of the English- 
man’s arm and pushed him forward not ungently, 
but when the captive lagged again and again the fel- 
low suddenly, and certainly with no just provoca^ 
tion, flew into a perfect frenzy of rage. He leaped 
upon the wounded man, striking him viciously with 


816 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


his fists and, bearing him to the ground, grasped his 
throat in his left hand while with his right he drew 
his long sharp saber. Screaming terribly he waved 
the blade above his head. 

The others stopped and turned to look upon the 
encounter with no particular show of interest. It 
was as though one of the party had paused to read- 
just a sandal and the others merely waited until he 
was ready to march on again. 

But if their captors were indifferent, Bertha 
Kircher was not. The close-set blazing eyes, the 
snarling fanged face, and the frightful screams filled 
her with horror, while the brutal and wanton attack 
upon the wounded man aroused within her the spirit 
of protection for the weak that is inherent in all 
women. Forgetful of everything other than that a 
weak and defenseless man was being brutally mur-* 
dered before her eyes, the girl cast aside discretion 
and, rushing to Smith-Oldwick’s assistance, seized 
the uplifted sword arm of the shrieking creature 
upon the prostrate Englishman. 

Clinging desperately to the fellow she surged 
backward with all her weight and strength with the 
result that she overbalanced him and sent him 
sprawling to the pavement upon his back. In his 
efforts to save himself he relaxed his grasp upon the 
grip of his saber which had no sooner fallen to the 
ground than it was seized upon by the girl. Stand- 
ing erect beside the prostrate form of the English 
officer Bertha Kircher, the razor-edged weapon 
grasped firmly in her hand, faced their captors. 


AMONG THE MANIACS 


317 


She was a brave figure; even her soiled and torn 
riding togs and disheveled hair detracted nothing 
from her appearance. The creature she had felled 
scrambled quickly to his feet and in the instant his 
whole demeanor changed. From demoniacal rage he 
became suddenly convulsed with hysterical laughter 
although it was a question in the girl’s mind as to 
which was the more terrifying. His companions 
stood looking on with vacuous grins upon their 
countenances, while he from whom the girl had 
wrested the weapon leaped up and down shrieking 
with laughter. If Bertha Kircher had needed further 
evidence to assure her that they were in the hands 
of a mentally deranged people the man’s present 
actions would have been sufficient to convince her. 
The sudden uncontrolled rage and now the equally 
uncontrolled and mirthless laughter but emphasized 
the facial attributes of idiocy. 

Suddenly realizing how helpless she was in the 
event any one of the men should seek to overpower 
her, and moved by a sudden revulsion of feeling 
that brought on almost a nausea of disgust, the 
girl hurled the weapon upon the ground at the feet 
of the laughing maniac and turning, kneeled beside 
the Englishman. 

“It was wonderful of you,” he said, “but you 
shouldn’t have done it. Don’t antagonize them: 
I believe that they are all mad and you know they 
say that one should always humor a madman.” 

She shook her head. “I couldn’t see him kill 
you,” she said. 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


St8 


A sudden light sprang to the man’s eyes as he 
reached out a hand and grasped the girl’s fingers. 
“ Do you care a little now ? ” he asked. “ Can’t you 
tell me that you do — just a bit.?” 

She did not withdraw her hand from his but she 
shook her head sadly. “Please don’t,” she said. 
“ I am sorry that I can only like you very much.” 

The light died from his eyes and his fingers relaxed 
their grasp on hers. “Please forgive me,” he mur- 
mured. “ I intended waiting until we got out of this 
mess and you were safe among your own people. 
It must have been the shock or something like that, 
and seeing you defending me as you did. Anyway, 
I couldn’t help it and really it doesn’t make much 
difference what I say now, does it?” 

“What do you mean?” she asked quickly. 

He shrugged and smiled ruefully. “I will never 
leave this city alive,” he said. “ I wouldn’t mention 
it except that I realize that you must know it as 
well as I. I was pretty badly torn up by the lion 
and this fellow here has about finished me. There 
might be some hope if we were among civilized 
people, but here with these frightful creatures what 
care could we get even if they were friendly?” 

Bertha Kircher knew that he spoke the truth, and 
yet she could not bring herself to an admission that 
Smith-Oldwick would die. She was very fond of 
him, in fact her great regret was that she did not 
love him, but she knew that she did not. 

It seemed to her that it could be such an easy 
thing for any girl to love Lieutenant Harold Percy 


AMONG THE MANIACS 


319 


Smith-Oldwick — an English offi-cer and a gentleman, 
the scion of an old family and himself a man of 
ample means, young, good-looking and affable. 
What more could a girl ask for than to have such 
a man love her and that she possessed Smith-Old- 
wick’s love there was no doubt in Bertha Kircher’s 
mind. 

She sighed, and then, laying her hand impulsively 
on his forehead, she whispered, “Do not give up 
hope, though. Try to live for my sake and for your 
sake I will try to love you.” 

It was as though new life had suddenly been in- 
jected into the man’s veins. His face lightened 
instantly and with strength that he himself did not 
know he possessed he rose slowly to his feet, albeit 
somewhat unsteadily. The girl helped him and sup- 
ported him after he had arisen. 

For the moment they had been entirely unconsci- 
ous of their surroundings and now as she looked at 
their captors she saw that they had fallen again 
into their almost habitual manner of stolid indiffer- 
ence, and at a gesture from one of them the march 
was resumed as though no untoward incident had 
occurred. 

Bertha Kircher experienced a sudden reaction 
from the momentary exaltation of her recent promise 
to the Englishman. She knew that she had spoken 
more for him than for herself but now that it was 
over she realized, as she had realized the moment be- 
fore she had spoken, that it was unlikely she would 
ever care for him the way he wished. But what had 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


SW 


she promised? Only that she would try to love him. 
“And now?” she asked herself. 

She realized that there might be little hope of 
their ever returning to civilization. Even if these 
people should prove friendly and willing to let them 
depart in peace, how were they to find their way 
back to the coast? With Tarzan dead, as she fully 
believed him after having seen his body lying lifeless 
at the mouth of the cave when she had been dragged 
forth by her captor, there seemed no power at their 
command which could guide them safely. 

The two had scarcely mentioned the ape-man since 
their capture, for each realized fully what his loss 
meant to them. They had compared notes relative 
to those few exciting moments of the final attack 
and capture and had found that they agreed per- 
fectly upon all that had occurred. Smith-Oldwick 
had even seen the lion leap upon Tarzan at the 
instant that the former was awakened by the roars 
of the charging beasts, and though the night had 
been dark, he had been able to see that the body of 
the savage ape-man had never moved from the 
instant that it had come down beneath the beast. 

And so, if at other times within the past few 
weeks Bertha Kircher had felt that her situation 
was particularly hopeless she was now ready to 
admit that hope was absolutely extinct. 

The streets were beginning to fill with the strange 
men and women of this strange city. Some- 
times individuals would notice them and seem to take 
a great interest in them, and again others would 


AMONG THE MANIACS 


321 


pass with vacant stares, seemingly unconscious of 
their immediate surroundings and paying no atten- 
tion whatsoever to the prisoners. Once they heard 
hideous screams up a side street, and looking they 
saw a man in the throes of a demoniacal outburst 
of rage, similar to that which they had witnessed 
in the recent attack upon Smith-Oldwick. This 
creature was venting his insane rage upon a child 
which he repeatedly struck and bit, pausing only 
long enough to shriek at frequent intervals. Finally, 
just before they passed out of sight the creature 
raised the limp body of the child high above his 
head and cast it down with all his strength upon the 
pavement, and then, wheeling and screaming madly 
at the top of his lungs, he dashed headlong up the 
winding street. 

Two women and several men had stood looking on 
at the cruel attack. They were at too great a 
distance for the Europeans to know whether their 
facial expressions portrayed pity or rage, but be 
that as it may, none offered to interfere. 

A few yards farther on a hideous hag leaned from 
a second story window where she laughed and jib- 
bered and made horrid grimaces at all who passed 
her. Others went their ways apparently attending 
to whatever duties called them, as soberly as the 
inhabitants of any civilized community. 

“God,” muttered Smith-Oldwick, “what an awful 
place ! ” 

The girl turned suddenly toward him. “You 
still have your pistol ? ” she asked him. 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


“Yes,” he replied. “I tucked it inside my 
shirt. They did not search me and it was too dark 
for them to see whether I carried any weapons or 
not. So I hid it in the hope that I might get 
through with it.” 

She moved closer to him and took hold of his hand. 
“ Save one cartridge for me, please ? ” she begged. 

Smith-Oldwick looked down at her and blinked his 
eyes very rapidly. An unfamiliar and disconcerting 
moisture had come into them.' He had realized, of 
course, how bad a plight was theirs but somehow 
it had seemed to affect him only : it did not seem pos- 
sible that anyone could harm this sweet and beautiful 
girl. 

And that she should have to be destroyed — » 
destroyed by him! It was too hideous: it was un- 
believable, unthinkable! If he had been filled with 
apprehension before he was doubly perturbed now. 

“ I don’t believe I could do it, Bertha,” he said. 

“Not even to save me from something worse?” 
she asked. 

He shook his head dismally. “ I could never do 
it,” he replied. 

The street that they were following suddenly 
opened upon a wide avenue, and before them spread 
a broad and beautiful lagoon, the quiet surface ©f 
which mirrored the clear cerulean of the sky. Here 
the aspect of all their surroundings changed. The 
buildings were higher and much more pretentious in 
design and ornamentation. The street itself Was 
paved in mosaics of barbaric but stunningly beau- 


AMONG THE MANIACS 


323 


tiful design. In the ornamentation of the buildings 
there was considerable color and a great deal of 
what appeared to be gold leaf. In all the decora- 
tions there was utilized in various ways the conven- 
tional figure of the parrot, and, to a lesser extent, 
that of the lion and the monkey. 

Their captors led them along the pavement beside 
the lagoon for a short distance and then through 
an arched doorway into one of the buildings facing 
the avenue. Here, directly within the entrance was 
a large room furnished with massive benches and 
tables, many of which were elaborately hand carved 
with the figures of the inevitable parrot, the lion, 
or the monkey ; the parrot always predominating. 

Behind one of the tables sat a man who differed 
in no way that the captives could discover, from 
those who accompanied them. Before this person 
the party halted and one of the men who had brought 
them made what seemed to be an oral report. 
Whether they were before a judge, a military officer, 
or a civil dignitary they could not know, but evi- 
dently he was a man of authority for, after listen- 
ing to whatever recital was being made to him, the 
while he closely scrutinized the two captives, he 
made a single futile attempt to converse with them 
and then issued some curt orders to him who had 
made the report. 

Almost immediately two of the men approached 
Bertha Kircher and signaled her to accompany them. 
Smith-Oldwick started to follow her but was inter- 
cepted by one of their guards. The girl stopped 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 




then and turned back, at the same time looking at 
the man at the table and making signs with her 
hands, indicating, as best she could, that she wished 
Smith-Oldwick to remain with her, but the fellow 
only shook his head negatively and motioned to the 
guards to remove her. The Englishman again 
attempted to follow but was restrained. He was 
too weak and helpless even to make an attempt to 
enforce his wishes. He thought of the pistol inside 
his shirt and then of the futility of attempting to 
overcome an entire city with the few rounds of am- 
munition left to him. 

So far with the single exception of the attack 
made upon him, they had no reason to believe that 
they might not receive fair treatment from their 
captors, and so he reasoned that it might be wiser 
to avoid antagonizing them until such a time as he 
became thoroughly convinced that their intentions 
were entirely hostile. He saw the girl led from the 
building and just before she disappeared from his 
view she turned and waved her hand to him: 

“Good luck!” she cried, and was gone. 

The lions that had entered the building with the 
party had, during their examination by the man at 
the table, been driven from the apartment through 
a doorway behind him. Toward this same doorway 
two of the men now led Smith-Oldwick. He found 
himself in a long corridor from the sides of which 
other doorways opened, presumably into other 
apartments of the building. At the far end of the 
corridor he saw a heavy grating beyond which ap- 


AMONG THE MANIACS 


3^5 


peared an open courtyard. Into this courtyard the 
prisoner was conducted and as he entered it with the 
two guards he found himself in an opening which 
was bounded by the inner walls of the building. It 
was in the nature of a garden in which a number 
of trees and flowering shrubs grew. Beneath several 
of the trees were benches and there was a bench 
along the south wall, but what aroused his most 
immediate attention was the fact that the lions who 
had assisted in their capture and who had accom- 
panied them upon the return to the city, lay 
sprawled about upon the ground or wandered rest- 
lessly to and fro. 

Just inside the gate his guard halted. The two 
men exchanged a few words and then turned and re- 
entered the corridor. The Englishman was horror 
stricken as the full realization of his terrible plight 
forced itself upon his tired brain. He turned and 
seized the grating in an attempt to open it and gain 
the safety of the corridor, but he found it securely 
locked against his every effort, and then he called 
aloud to the retreating figure of the men within. 
The only reply he received was a high-pitched, mirth- 
less laugh, and then the two passed through the 
doorway at the far end of the corridor and he was 
alone with the lions. 


CHAPTER XIX 

THE queen’s STOEY 


I N THE meantime Bertha Kircher was conducted 
the length of the plaza toward the largest and 
most pretentious of the buildings surrounding it. 
This edifice covered the entire width of one end of 
the plaza. It was several stories in height, the main 
entrance being approached by a wide flight of stone 
steps, the bottom of which was guarded by enormous 
stone lions while at the top there were two pedestals 
flanking the entrance and of the same height, upon 
each of which was the stone image of a large parrot. 
As the girl neared these latter images she saw that 
the capital of each column was hewn into the sem< 
blance of a human skull upon which the parrots 
perched. Above the arched doorway and upon the 
walls of the building were the figures of other par- 
rots, of lions, and of monkeys. Some of these were 
carved in bas-relief ; others were delineated in 
mosaics, while still others appeared to have been 
painted upon the surface of the wall. 

The colorings of the last were apparently mucK 
subdued by age with the result that the general 
effect was soft and beautiful. The sculpturing and 
mosaic work were both finely executed, giving evi- 
826 


THE QUEEN^S STORY 


327 


dence of a high degree of artistic skill. Unlike the 
first building into which she had been conducted, 
the entrance to which had been doorless, massive 
doors closed the entrance which she now approached. 
In the niches formed by the columns which supported 
the door’s arch, and about the base of the pedestals 
of the stone parrots, as well as in various other 
places on the broad stairway, lolled some score of 
armed men. The tunics of these were all of a vivid 
yellow and upon the breast and back of each was em- 
broidered the figure of a parrot. 

As she was conducted up the stairway one of these 
yellow-coated warriors approached and halted her 
guides at the top of the steps. Here they exchanged 
a few words and while they were talking the girl 
noticed that he who had halted them, as well as those 
whom she could see of his companions, appeared to 
be, if possible, of a lower mentality than her original 
captors. 

Their coarse, bristling hair grew so low upon 
their foreheads as, in some instances, to almost join 
their eyebrows, while the irises were smaller, expos- 
ing more of the white of the eyeball. 

After a short parley the man in charge of the 
doorway, for such he seemed to be, turned and struck 
upon one of the panels with the butt of his spear, 
at the same time calling to several of his companions 
who rose and came forward at his command. Soon 
the great doors commenced slowly to swing creak- 
ingly open, and presently, as they separated, the 
girl saw behind them the motive force which operated 


828 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


the massive doors — to each door a half-dozen naked 
Negroes. 

At the doorway her two guards were turned back 
and their places taken by a half-dozen of the yellow- 
coated soldiery. These conducted her through the 
doorway which the blacks, pulling upon heavy 
chains, closed behind them. And as the girl watched 
them she noted with horror that the poor creatures 
were chained by the neck to the doors. 

Before her led a broad hallway in the center of 
which was a little pool of clear water. Here again 
in floor and walls was repeated in new and ever- 
changing combinations and designs, the parrots, the 
monkeys, and the lions, but now many of the figures 
were of what the girl was convinced must be gold. 
The walls of the corridor consisted of a series of 
open archways through which, upon either side, 
other spacious apartments were visible. The hall- 
way was entirely unfurnished, but the rooms on 
either side contained benches and tables. Glimpses 
of some of the walls revealed the fact that they were 
covered with hangings of some colored fabric, while 
upon the floors were thick rugs of barbaric design 
and the skins of black lions and beautifully marked 
leopards. 

The room directly to the right of the entrance was 
filled with men wearing the yellow tunics of her new 
guard while the walls were hung with numerous 
spears and sabers. At the far end of the corridor 
a low flight of steps led to another closed doorway. 
Here the guard was again halted. One of the guards 


THE QUEEN^S STORY 


329 


at this doorway, after receiving the report of one of 
those who accompanied her, passed through the door 
leaving them standing outside. It was fully fifteen 
minutes before he returned, when the guard was 
again changed and the girl conducted into the cham- 
ber beyond. 

Through three other chambers and past three 
more massive doors, at each of which her guard was 
changed, the girl was conducted before she was 
ushered into a comparatively small room, back and 
forth across the floor of which paced a man in a 
scarlet tunic, upon the front and back of which 
was embroidered an enormous parrot and upon whose 
head was a barbaric headdress surmounted by a 
stuffed parrot. 

The walls of this room were entirely hidden by 
hangings upon which hundreds, even thousands, of 
parrots were embroidered. Inlaid in the floor were 
golden parrots, while as thickly as they could be 
painted upon the ceiling were brilliant-hued parrots 
with wings outspread as though in the act of flying. 

The man himself was larger of stature than any 
she had yet seen within the city. His parchment- 
like skin was wrinkled with age and he was much 
fatter than any other of his kind that she had seen. 
His bared arms, however, gave evidence of great 
strength and his gait was not that of an old man. 
His facial expression denoted almost utter imbecility 
and he was quite the most repulsive human creature 
that ever Bertha Kircher had looked upon. 

For several minutes after she was conducted intc 


330 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


his presence he appeared not to be aware that she 
was there but continued his restless pacing to and 
fro. Suddenly, without the slightest warning, and 
while he was at the far end of the room from her 
with his back toward her, he wheeled and rushed 
madly at her. Involuntarily the girl shrank back, 
extending her open palms toward the frightful crea- 
ture as though to hold him aloof but a man upon 
either side of her, the two who had conducted her 
into the apartment, seized and held her. 

Although he rushed violently toward her the man 
-stopped without touching her. For a moment his 
horrid white-rimmed eyes glared searchingly into her 
face, immediately following which he burst into 
maniacal laughter. For two or three minutes the 
creature gave himself over to merriment and then, 
stopping as suddenly as he had commenced to laugh, 
he fell to examining the prisoner. He felt of her 
hair, her skin, the texture of the garment she wore 
and by means of signs made her understand that 
she was to open her mouth. In the latter he seemed 
much interested, calling the attention of one of the 
guards to her canine teeth and then baring his own 
sharp fangs for the prisoner to see. 

Presently he resumed pacing to and fro across the 
floor and it was fully fifteen minutes before he again 
noticed the prisoner and then it was to issue a curt 
order to her guards who immediately conducted her 
from the apartment. 

The guards now led the girl through a series of 
corridors and apartments to a narrow stone stair- 


THE QUEEN^S STORY 


331 


way which led to the floor above, Anally stopping 
before a small door where stood a naked Negro 
armed with a spear. At a word from one of her 
guards the Negro opened the door and the party 
pasred into a low-ceiled apartment, the windows of 
which immediately caught the girl’s attention 
through the fact that they were heavily barred. The 
room was furnished similarly to those that she had 
seen in other parts of the building; the same carved 
tables and benches, the rugs upon the floor, the deco- 
rations upon the walls, although in every respect it 
was simpler than anything she had seen on the floor 
below. In one corner was a low couch covered with a 
rug similar to those on the floor except that it was 
of a lighter texture, and upon this sat a woman. 

As Bertha Kircher’s eyes alighted upon the occu- 
pant of the room the girl gave a little gasp of aston- 
ishment, for she recognized immediately that here 
was a creature more nearly of her own kind than 
any she had seen within the city’s walls. An old 
woman it was who looked at her through faded blue 
eyes, sunken deep in a wrinkled and toothless face. 
But the eyes were those of a sane and intelligent 
creature, and the wrinkled face was the face of a 
white woman. 

At sight of the girl the woman rose and came 
forward, her gait so feeble and unsteady that she 
was forced to support herself with a long staff which 
she grasped in both her hands. One of the guards 
spoke a few words to her and then the men turned 
and left the apartment. The girl stood just within 


TARZAN the UWTAMEiy 


S3a 


the door waiting in silence for what might next befall 
her. 

The old woman crossed the room and stopped 
before her, raising her weak and watery eyes to 
the fresh young face of the newcomer. Then she 
scanned her from head to foot and once again the 
old eyes returned to the girl’s face. Bertha Kircher 
on her part was not less frank in her survey of the 
little old woman. It was the latter who spoke first. 
In a thin, cracked voice she spoke, hesitatingly, fal- 
teringly, as though she were using unfamiliar words 
and speaking a strange tongue. 

“You are from the outer world?” she asked in 
English. “God grant that you may speak and 
understand this tongue.” 

“English?” the girl exclaimed, “Yes, of course, 
I speak English.” 

“Thank God!” cried the little old woman. “I 
did not know whether I myself might speak it so 
that another could understand. For sixty years I 
have spoken only their accursed gibberish. For 
sixty years I have not heard a word in my native 
language. Poor creature! Poor creature!” she 
mumbled. “What accursed misfortune threw you 
into their hands?” 

“You are an English woman?” asked Bertha 
Kircher. “Did I understand you aright that you 
are an English woman and have been here for sixty 
years ? ” 

The old woman nodded her head affirmatively. 

For sixty years I have never been outside of this 


THE QUEEN^S STORY 


palace. Come,” she said, stretching forth a bonj 
hand, I am very old and cannot stand long. Come 
and sit with me on my couch.” 

The girl took the proffered hand and assisted the 
old lady back to the opposite side of the room and 
when she was seated the girl sat down beside her. 

^‘Poor child! Poor child!” moaned the old 
woman. ‘^Far better to have died than to have let 
them bring you here. At first I might have de- 
stroyed myself but there was always the hope that 
someone would come who would take me away, but 
none ever comes. Tell me how they got you.” 

Very briefly the girl narrated the principal inci- 
dents which led up to her capture by some of the 
creatures of the city. 

“Then there is a man with you in the city?” 
asked the old woman. 

“Yes,” said the girl, “but I do not know where 
he is nor what are their intentions in regard to him. 
In fact, I do not know what their intentions toward 
me are.” 

“No one might even guess,” said the old woman. 
“They do not know themselves from one minute to 
the next what their intentions are, but I think you 
can rest assured, my poor child, that you will never 
see your friend again.” 

“But they haven’t slain you,” the girl reminded 
her, “and you have been their prisoner, you say, 
for sixty years.” 

“No,” replied her companion, “they have not 
killed me, nor will they kill you, though God knows 


334 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


before you have lived long in this horrible place you 
will beg them to kill you.” 

“Who are they — ” asked Bertha Kircher, “what 
kind of people.? They differ from any that I ever 
have seen. And tell me, too, how you came here.” 

“It was long ago,” said the old woman, rocking 
back and forth on the couch. “It was long ago. 
Oh, how long it was ! I was only twenty then. 
Think of it, child! Look at me. I have no mirror 
other than my bath, I cannot see what I look like 
for my eyes are old, but with my fingers I can feel 
my old and wrinkled face, my sunken eyes, and 
these flabby lips drawn in over toothless gums. I 
am old and bent and hideous, but then I was young 
and they said that I was beautiful. No, I will not 
be a hypocrite, I was beautiful. My glass told me 
that. 

“My father was a missionary in the interior and 
one day there came a band of Arabian slave raiders. 
They took the men and women of the little native 
village where my father labored, and they took me, 
too. They did not know much about our part of 
the country so they were compelled to rely upon 
the men of our village, whom they had captured, to 
guide them. They told me that they never before 
had been so far south and that they had heard 
there was a country rich in ivory and slaves west 
of us. They wanted to go there and from there 
they would take us north, where I was to be sold 
into the harem of some black sultan. 

“They often discussed the price I would bring. 


THE QUEEN'S STORY 


and that that price might not lessen, they guarded 
me jealously from one another so the journeys were 
made as little fatiguing for me as possible. I was 
given the best food at their command and I was 
not harmed. 

“But after a short time when we had reached 
the confines of the country with which the men of 
our village were familiar and had entered upon a 
desolate and arid desert waste, the Arabs realized 
at last that we were lost. But still they kept on, 
ever toward the west, crossing hideous gorges and 
marching across the face of a burning land beneath 
the pitiless sun. The poor slaves they had captured 
were, of course, compelled to carry all the camp 
equipage and loot and thus heavily burdened, half 
starved and without water they soon commenced to 
die like flies. 

“We had not been in the desert land long before 
the Arabs were forced to kill their horses for food, 
and when we reached the first gorge, across which 
it would have been impossible to transport the ani- 
mals, the balance of them were slaughtered and the 
meat loaded upon the poor staggering blacks who 
still survived. 

“Thus we continued for two more days and now 
all but a handful of blacks were dead, and the Arabs 
themselves had commenced to succumb to hunger 
and thirst and the intense heat of the desert. As 
far as the eye could reach back toward the land 
of plenty from whence we had come, our route was 
marked by circling vultures in the sky and by the 


S36 TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


bodies of the dead who lay down in the trackless 
waste for the last time. The ivory had been aban- 
doned tusk by tusk as the blacks gave out, and 
along that trail of death was strewn the camp 
equipage and the horse trappings of a hundred men. 

“For some reason the Arab chief favored me to 
the last, possibly with the idea that of all his other 
treasures I could be most easily transported, for 
I was young and strong and after the horses were 
killed I had walked and kept up with the best 
of the men. We English, you know, are great 
walkers, while these Arabians had never walked since 
they were old enough to ride a horse. 

“I cannot tell you how much longer we kept on 
but at last, with oUr strength almost gone, a handful 
of us reached the bottom of a deep gorge. To scale 
the oppa)rite side was out of the question and so 
we kept on down along the sands of what must 
have been the bed of an ancient river, lantil finally 
we came to a point where we looked out upon what 
appeared to be a beautiful valley in which we felt 
assured that we would find game in plenty. 

‘‘By then there were only two of us left- — the 
chief and myself. I do not need to tell you what 
the valley was, for you found it in much the same 
way as did I. So quickly were we captured that it 
seemed they must have been waiting for us, and 
I learned later that such was the case, just as they 
were waiting for you. 

“As you came through the forest you must have 
seen the monkeys and parrots and since you have 


THE QUEEN^S STORY 


337 


entered the palace, how constantly these animals, 
and the lions, are used in the decorations. At home 
we were all familiar with talking parrots who re- 
peated the things that they were taught to say, 
but these parrots are different in that they all talk 
in the same language that the people of the city 
use, and they say that the monkeys talk to the 
parrots and the parrots fly to the city and tell 
the people what the monkeys say. And although 
it is hard to believe, I have learned that this is so, 
for I have lived here among them for sixty years 
in the palace of their king. 

“ They brought me, as they brought you, directly 
to the palace. The Arabian chief was taken else- 
t^here. I never knew what became of him. Ago 
XXV was king then. I have seen many kings since 
that day. He was a terrible man ; but then, they are 
all terrible.” 

“What is the matter with them?” asked the girl. 

“They are a race of maniacs,” replied the old 
woman. “Had you not guessed it? Among them 
are excellent craftsmen and good farmers and a 
certain amount of law and order, such as it is. 

^^They reverence all birds, but the parrot is their 
chief deity. There is one who is held here in the 
palace in a very beautiful apartment. He is their 
god of gods. He is a very old bird. If what Ago 
told me when I came is true, he must be nearly three 
hundred years old by now. Their religious rites are 
revolting in the extreme, and I believe that it may 
be the practice of these rites through ages that haa 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 




brought the race to its present condition of im^ 
becility. 

“And yet, as I said, they are not without some 
redeeming qualities. If legend may be credited 
their forbears — a little handful of men and women 
who came from somewhere out of the north and be- 
came lost in the wilderness of central Africa — found 
here only a barren desert valley. To my own 
knowledge rain seldom, if ever falls here, and yet 
you have seen a great forest and luxuriant vegeta- 
tion outside of the city as well as within. This 
miracle is accomplished by the utilization of natural 
springs which their ancestors developed, and upon 
which they have improved to such an extent that 
the entire valley receives an adequate amount of 
moisture at all times. 

“Ago told me that many generations before his 
time the forest was irrigated by changing the course 
of the streams which carried the spring water to 
the city but that when the trees had sent their roots 
down to the natural moisture of the soil and required 
no further irrigation, the course of the stream was 
changed and other trees were planted. And so the 
forest grew until today it covers almost the entire 
floor of the valley except for the open space where 
the city stands. I do not know that this is true. 
It may be that the forest has always been here, 
but it is one of their legends and it is borne out 
by the fact that there is not sufficient rainfall here 
to support vegetation. 

“They are peculiar people in many respects, not 


THE QVEEWS STORY 


only in their form of worship and religious rites but 
also in that they breed lions as other people breed 
cattle. You have seen how they use some of these 
lions but the majority of them they fatten and eat. 
At first, I imagine, they ate lion meat as a part 
of their religious ceremony but after many genera- 
tions they came to crave it so that now it is practi- 
cally the only flesh they eat. They would, of course, 
rather die than eat the flesh of a bird, nor will they 
eat monkey’s meat, while the herbivorous animals 
they raise only for milk, hides, and flesh for the 
lions. Upon the south side of the city are the 
corrals and pastures where the herbivorous animals 
are raised. Boar, deer, and antelope are used prin- 
cipally for the lions, while goats are kept for milk 
for the human inhabitants of the city.” 

‘‘And you have lived here all these years,” ex- 
claimed the girl, “without ever seeing one of your 
own kind.'^” 

The old woman nodded affirmatively. 

“For sixty years you have lived here,” continued 
Bertha Kircher, “ and they have not harmed you ! ” 

“I did not say they had not harmed me,” said 
the old woman, “they did not kill me, that is all.” 

“What” — the girl hesitated — “what,” she con- 
tinued at last, “was your position among them? 
Pardon me,” she added quickly, “I think I know 
but I should like to hear from your own lips, for 
whatever your position was, mine will doubtless be 
the same.” 

The old woman nodded. “ Yes,” she said, “ doubt- 


340 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


less; if they can keep you away from the women.” 

“What do you mean?” asked the girl. 

“For sixty years I have never been allowed near 
a woman. They would kill me, even now, if they 
could reach me. The men are frightful, God knows 
they are frightful! But heaven keep you from the 
women ! ” 

“You mean,” asked the girl, “that the men will 
not harm me?” 

“Ago XXV made me his queen,” said the old 
woman. “But he had many other queens, nor were 
they all human. He was not murdered for ten 
years after I came here. Then the next king took 
me, and so it has been always. I am the oldest 
queen now. Very few of their women live to a 
great age. Not only are they constantly liable to 
assassination but, owing to their subnormal men- 
talities, they are subject to periods of depression 
during which they are very likely to destroy them- 
selves.” 

She turned suddenly and pointed to the barred 
windows. “You see this room,” she said, “with the 
black eunuch outside? Wherever you see these you 
will know that there are women, for with very few 
exceptions they are never allowed out of captivity. 
They are considered and really are more violent 
than the men.” 

For several minutes the two sat in silence, and 
then the younger woman turned to the older. 

“Is there no way to escape?” she asked. 

The old woman pointed again to the barred win- 


THE QUEEN^S STORY 


341 


dows and then to the door, saying: “And there 
is the armed eunuch. And if you should pass him, 
how could you reach the street? And if you 
reached the street, how could you pass through the 
city to the outer wall ? And even if, by some miracle, 
you should gain the outer wall, and, by another 
miracle, you should be permitted to pass through 
the gate, could you ever hope to traverse the forest 
where the great black lions roam and feed upon 
men? No!” she exclaimed, answering her own ques- 
tion, “ there is no escape, for after one had escaped 
from the palace and the city and the forest it would 
be but to invite death in the frightful desert land 
beyond. 

“ In sixty years you are the first to find this 
buried city. In a thousand no denizen of this valley 
has ever left it, and within the memory of man, 
or even in their legends, none had found them prior 
to my coming other than a single warlike giant, the 
story of whom has been handed down from father 
to son. 

“I think from the description that he must have 
been a Spaniard, a giant of a man in buckler and 
helmet, who fought his way through the terrible 
forest to the city gate, who fell upon those who 
were sent out to capture him and slew them with 
his mighty sword. And when he had eaten of the 
vegetables from the gardens, and the fruit from the 
trees and drank of the water from the stream, he 
turned about and fought his way back through the 
forest to the mouth of the gorge. But though he 


342 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


escaped the city and the forest he did not escape 
the desert. For a legend runs that the king, fearful 
that he would bring others to attack them, sent a 
party after him to slay him. 

“For three weeks they did not find him for they 
went in the wrong direction, but at last they came 
upon his bones picked clean by the vultures, lying 
a day’s march up the same gorge through which 
you and I entered the valley. I do not know,” 
continued the old woman, “ that this is true. It 
is just one of their many legends.” 

“ Yes,” said the girl, “ it is true. I am sure it is 
true, for I have seen the skeleton and the corroded 
armor of this great giant.” 

At this juncture the door was thrown open with- 
out ceremony and a Negro entered bearing two flat 
vessels in which were several smaller ones. These 
he set down on one of the tables near the women, 
and, without a word, turned and left. With the 
entrance of the man with the vessels, a delightful 
odor of cooked food had aroused the realization in 
the girl’s mind that she was very hungry, and at 
a word from the old woman she walked to the table 
to examine the viands. The larger vessels which 
contained the smaller ones were of pottery while 
those within them were quite evidently of hammered 
gold. To her intense surprise she found lying be- 
tween the smaller vessels a spoon and a fork, which, 
while of quaint design, were quite as serviceable as 
any she had seen in more civilized communities. The 
tines of the fork were quite evidently of iron or 


THE QUEEN'S STORY 


343 


steel, the girl did not know which, while the handle 
and the spoon were of the same material as the 
smaller vessels. 

There was a highly seasoned stew with meat and 
vegetables, a dish of fresh fruit, and a bowl of milk 
beside which was a little jug containing something 
which resembled marmalade. So ravenous was she 
that she did not even wait for her companion to 
reach the table, and as she ate she could have sworn 
that never before had she tasted more palatable 
food. The old woman came slowly and sat down 
on one of the benches opposite her. 

As she removed the smaller vessels from the larger 
and arranged them before her on the table a crooked 
smile twisted her lips as she watched the younger 
woman eat. 

“Hunger is a great leveler,” she said with a 
laugh. 

“ What do you mean ? ” asked the girl. 

“ I venture to say that a few weeks ago you would 
have been nauseated at the idea of eating cat.” 

“Cat?” exclaimed the girl. 

“Yes,” said the old woman. “What is the dif- 
ference — a lion is a cat.” 

“You mean I am eating lion now?” 

“ Yes,” said the old woman, “ and as they prepare 
it, it is very palatable. You will grow very fond 
of it.” 

Bertha Kircher smiled a trifle dubiously. “ I 
could not tell it,” she said, “from lamb or veal.” 

“No,” said the woman, “it tastes as good to me. 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


344 


But these lions are very carefully kept and very 
carefully fed and their flesh is so seasoned and pre- 
pared that it might be anything so far as taste is 
concerned.” 

And so Bertha Kircher broke her long fast upon 
strange fruits, lion meat, and goat’s milk. 

Scarcely had she flnished when again the door 
opened and there entered a yellow-coated soldier. 
He spoke to the old woman. 

^‘The king,” she said, “has commanded that you 
be prepared and brought to him. You are to share 
these apartments with me. The king knows that I 
am not like his other women. He never would 
have dared to put you with them. Herog XVI has 
occasional lucid intervals. You must have been 
brought to him during one of these. Like the rest 
of them he thinks that he alone of all the com- 
munity is sane, but more than once I have thought 
that the various men with whom I have come in 
contact here, including the kings themselves, looked 
upon me as, at least, less mad than the others. Yet 
how I have retained my senses all these years is 
beyond me.” 

“What do you mean by ‘prepare’ asked 
Bertha Kircher. “ You said that the king had com- 
manded I be prepared and brought to him.” 

“You will be bathed and furnished with a robe 
similar to that which I wear.” 

“Is there no escape?” asked the girl. “Is there 
no way even in which I can kill myself?” 

The woman handed her the fork. “This is the 


THE QUEEN^S STORY 


345 


only way,” she said, ‘‘and you will notice that the 
tines are very short and blunt.” 

The girl shuddered and the old woman laid a 
hand gently upon her shoulder. “ He may only look 
at you and send you away,” she said. “Ago XXV 
sent for me once, tried to talk with me, discovered 
that I could not understand him and that he could 
not understand me, ordered that I be taught the 
language of his people, and then apparently forgot 
me for a year. Sometimes I do not see the king 
for a long period. There was one king who ruled 
for five years whom I never saw. There is always 
hope ; even I whose very memory has doubtless been 
forgotten beyond these palace walls still hope, 
though none knows better how futilely.” 

The old woman led Bertha Kircher to an adj oining 
apartment in the floor of which was a pool of water. 
Here the girl bathed and afterward her companion 
brought her one of the clinging garments of the 
native women and adjusted it about her figure. The 
material of the robe was of a gauay fabric which 
accentuated the rounded beauty of the girlish form. 

“There,” said the old woman, as she gave a final 
pat to one of the folds of the garment, “you are a 
queen indeed!” 

The girl looked down at her naked breasts and 
but half-concealed limbs in horror. “ They are going 
to lead me into the presence of men in this half- 
nude condition I ” she exclaimed. 

The old woman smiled her crooked smile. “It 
is nothing,” *he said. “ You will become accustomed 


346 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


to it as did I who was brought up in the home of 
a minister of the gospel, where it was considered 
little short of a crime for a woman to expose her 
stockinged ankle. By comparison with what you 
will doubtless see and the things that you may be 
called upon to undergo, this is but a trifle.’’ 

For what seemed hours to the distraught girl she 
paced the floor of her apartment, awaiting the final 
summons to the presence of the mad king. Dark- 
ness had fallen and the oil flares within the palace 
had been lighted long before two messengers ap- 
peared with instructions that Herog demanded her 
immediate presence and that the old woman, whom 
they called Xanila, was to accompany her. The 
girl felt some slight relief when she discovered that 
she was to have at least one friend with her, however 
powerless to assist her the old woman might be. 

The messengers conducted the two to a small 
apartment on the floor below. Xanila explained that 
this was one of the anterooms off the main throne- 
room in which the king was accustomed to hold 
court with his entire retinue. A number of yellow- 
tunicked warriors sat about upon the benches within 
the room. For the most part their eyes were bent 
upon the floor and their attitudes that of moody 
dejection. As the two women entered several glanced 
indifferently at them, but for the most part no 
attention was paid to them. 

While they were waiting in the anteroom there 
entered from another apartment a young man uni- 
formed similarly to the others with the exception 


THE QUEEN^S STORY 


347 


that upon his head was a fillet of gold, in the front 
of which a single parrot feather rose erectly above 
his forehead. As he entered, the other soldiers in 
the room rose to their feet. 

‘^That is Metak, one of the king’s sons,” Xanila 
whispered to the girl. 

The prince was crossing the room toward the 
audience chamber when his glance happened to fall 
upon Bertha Kircher. He halted in his tracks and 
stood looking at her for a full minute without speak- 
ing. The girl, embarrassed by his bold stare and 
her scant attire, flushed and, dropping her gaze to 
the floor, turned away. Metak suddenly commenced 
to tremble from head to foot and then, without warn- 
ing other than a loud, hoarse scream he sprang 
forward and seized the girl in his arms. 

Instantly pandemonium ensued. The two mes- 
sengers who had been charged with the duty of 
conducting the girl to the king’s presence danced, 
shrieking, about the prince, waving their arms and 
gesticulating wildly as though they would force him 
to relinquish her, the while they dared not lay hands 
upon royalty. The other guardsmen, as though 
suffering in sympathy the madness of their prince, 
ran forward screaming and brandishing their sabers. 

The girl fought to release herself from the horrid 
embrace of the maniac, but with his left arm about 
her he held her as easily as though she had been 
but a babe, while with his free hand he drew his saber 
and struck viciously at those nearest him. 

One of the messengers was the first to feel the 


S48 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


keen edge of Metak’s blade. With a single fierce cut 
the prince drove through the fellow’s collar bone 
and downward to the center of his chest. With a 
shrill shriek that rose above the screaming of the 
other guardsmen the man dropped to the floor, and 
as the blood gushed from the frightful wound he 
struggled to rise once more to his feet and then 
sank back again and died in a great pool of his 
own blood. 

In the meantime Metak, still clinging desperately 
to the girl, had backed toward the opposite door. 
A-t the sight of the blood two of the guardsmen, as 
though suddenly aroused to maniacal frenzy, dropped 
their sabers to the floor and fell upon each other 
<vith nails and teeth, while some sought to reach the 
prince and some to defend him. In a corner of the 
room sat one of the guardsmen laughing uproariously 
and just as Metak succeeded in reaching the door 
and taking the girl through, she thought that she 
saw another of the men spring upon the corpse of 
the dead messenger and bury his teeth in its flesh. 

During the orgy of madness Xanila had kept 
closely at the girl’s side but at the door of the room 
Metak had seen her and wheeling suddenly, cut 
viciously at her. Fortunately for Xanila she was 
halfway through the door at the time so that Metak’s 
blade but dented itself upon the stone arch of the 
portal and then Xanila, guided doubtless by the 
wisdom of sixty years of similar experiences, fled 
down the corridor as fast as her old and tottering 
legs would carry her. 


THE QUEEN'S STORY 


349 


Metak, once outside the door, returned his saber 
to its scabbard and lifting the girl bodily from the 
ground carried her off in the opposite direction from 
that taken by Xanila. 


CHAPTER XX 


CAME TARZAN 

J UST before dark that evening, an almost ex« 
hausted flier entered the headquarters of Colonel 
Capell of the Second Rhodesians and saluted. 

“Well, Thompson,” asked the superior, “what 
luck? The others have all returned. Never saw a 
thing of Oldwick or his plane. I guess we shall have 
to give it up unless you were more successful.” 

“ I was,” replied the young officer. “ I found the 
plane.” 

“No!” ejaculated Colonel Capell. “Where was 
it? Any sign of Oldwick?” 

“ It is in the rottenest hole in the ground you ever 
saw, quite a bit inland. Narrow gorge. Saw the 
plane all right but can’t reach it. There was a regu- 
lar devil of a lion wandering around it, I landed 
near the edge of the cliff and was going to climb 
down and take a look at the plane. But this 
fellow hung around for an hour or more and I 
Anally had to give it up.” 

“Do you ^think the lions got Oldwick?” asked 
the colonel. 

I doubt it,” replied Lieutenant Thompson, 
“from the fact that there was no indication that 
850 


CAME TARZAN 


351 


the lion had fed anywhere about the plane. I arose 
after I found it was impossible to get down around 
the plane and reconnoitered up and down the gorge. 
Several miles to the south I found a small, wooded 
valley in the center of which — please don’t think 
me crazy, sir' — is a regular city — streets, buildings, 
a central plaza with a lagoon, good-sized buildings 
with domes and minarets and all that sort of stuff.” 

The elder officer looked at the younger compas- 
sionately. ‘‘You’re all wrought up, Thompson,” he 
said. “Go and take a good sleep. You have been 
on this job now for a long while and it must have 
gotten on your nerves.” 

The young man shook his head a bit irritably, 
“Pardon me, sir,” he said, “but I am telling you 
the truth. I am not mistaken. I circled over the 
place several times. It may be that Oldwick has 
found his way there — or has been captured by 
these people.” 

“Were there people in the city?” asked the 
colonel. 

“Yes, I saw them in the streets.” 

“Do you think cavalry could reach the valley?” 
asked the colonel. 

“No,” replied Thompson, “the country is all cut 
up with these deep gorges. Even infantry would 
have a devil of a time of it, and there is absolutely 
no water that I could discover for at least a two 
days’ march.” 

It was at this juncture that a big Vauxhall drew 
up in front of the headquarters of the Second 


362 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Rhodesians and a moment later General Smut 
alighted and entered. Colonel Capell arose from 
his chair and saluted his superior and the young 
lieutenant saluted and stood at attention. 

“ I was passing,” said the general, ‘‘ and I thought 
I would stop for a chat. By the way, how is the 
search for Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick progressing? 
I see Thompson here and I believe he was one of 
those detailed to the search.” 

“Yes,” said Capell, “he was. He is the last to 
come in. He found the lieutenant’s ship,” and then 
he repeated what Lieutenant Thompson had reported 
to him. The general sat down at the table with 
Colonel Capell and together the two officers, with 
the assistance of the flier, marked the approximate 
location of the city which Thompson had reported 
he discovered. 

“It’s a mighty rough country,” remarked Smut, 
“but we can’t leave a stone unturned until we have 
exhausted every resource to And that boy. We will 
send out a small force, a small one will be more 
likely to succeed than a large one. About one com- 
pany, Colonel, or say two, with sufficient motor 
lorries for transport of rations and water. Put a 
good man in command and let him establish a base 
as far to the west as the motors can travel. You 
can leave one company there and send the other for- 
ward. I am inclined to believe you can establish 
your base within a day’s march of the city and if 
such is the case the force you send ahead should 
have no trouble on the score of lack of water as 


CAME TARZAN 


355 


legs beneath the vicious cut that was directed at him 
from the side, and as a football player tackles an op- 
posing runner, Tarzan tackled his antagonist, carry- 
ing him backward several yards and throwing him 
heavily to the roof upon his back. 

No sooner had the man touched the roof than the 
ape-man was upon his chest, one brawny hand sought 
and found the sword wrist and the other the throat 
of the yellow-tunicked guardsman. Until then the 
fellow had fought in silence but just as Tarzan’s 
fingers touched his throat he emitted a single pierc- 
ing shriek that the brown fingers cut off almost in- 
stantly. The fellow struggled to escape the clutch 
of the naked creature upon his breast but equally as 
well might he have fought to escape the talons of 
Numa, the lion. 

Gradually his struggles lessened, his pin-point 
eyes popped from their sockets, rolling horribly up- 
ward, while from his foam-flecked lips his swollen 
tongue protruded. As his struggles ceased Tarzan 
arose, and placing a foot upon the carcass of his kill, 
was upon the point of screaming forth his victory 
cry when the thought that the work before him 
required the utmost caution sealed his lips. 

Walking to the edge of the roof he looked down 
into the narrow winding street below. At intervals, 
apparently at each street intersection, an oil flare 
sputtered dimly from brackets set in the walls a 
trifle higher than a man’s head. For the most part 
the winding alleys were in dense shadow and even in 
the immediate vicinity of the flares the illumination 


356 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


WSLS far from brilliant. In the restricted area of his 
vision he could see that there were still a few of the 
strange inhabitants moving about the narrow thor- 
oughfares. 

To prosecute his search for the young officer and 
the girl he must be able to move about the city as 
freely as possible, but to pass beneath one of the 
corner flares, naked as he was except for a loin 
cloth, and in every other respect markedly different 
from the inhabitants of the city, would be but to 
court almost immediate discovery. As these 
thoughts flashed through his mind and he cast about 
for some feasible plan of action, his eyes fell upon 
the corpse upon the roof near him, and immediately 
there occurred to him the possibility of disguising 
himself in the raiment of his conquered adversary. 

It required but a few moments for the ape-man to 
clothe himself in the tights, sandals, and parrot- 
emblazoned yellow tunic of the dead soldier. Around 
his waist he buckled the saber belt but beneath the 
tunic he retained the hunting knife of his dead 
father. His other weapons he could not lightly dis- 
card, and so, in the hope that he might eventually 
recover them, he carried them to the edge of the 
wall and dropped them among the foliage at its 
base. At the last moment he found it difficult to 
part with his rope, which, with his knife, was his 
most accustomed weapon, and one which he had used 
for the greatest length of time. He found that by 
removing the saber belt he could wind the rope about 
his waist beneath his tunic, and then replacing the 


CAME TARZAN 


857 


belt still retain it entirely concealed from chance 
observation. 

At last, satisfactorily disguised, and with even his 
shock of black hair adding to the verisimilitude of 
his likeness to the natives of the city, he sought for 
some means of reaching the street below. While he 
might have risked a drop from the eaves of the roof 
he feared to do so lest he attract the attention of 
passers-by, and probable discovery. The roofs of 
the buildings varied in height but as the ceilings were 
all low he found that he could easily travel along 
the roof tops and this he did for some little distance 
until he suddenly discovered just ahead of him sev-* 
eral figures reclining upon the roof of a near-by 
building. 

He had noticed openings in each roof, evidentl]^ 
giving ingress to the apartments below, and now, his 
advance cut off by those ahead of him, he decided to 
risk the chance of reaching the street through the 
interior of one of the buildings. Approaching one 
of the openings he leaned over the black hole and, 
listened for sounds of life in the apartment below. 
Neither his ears nor his nose registered evidence of 
the presence of any living creature in the immediate 
vicinity, and so without further hesitation the ape- 
man lowered his body through the aperture and was 
about to drop when his foot came in contact with the 
rung of a ladder, which he immediately took advan- 
tage of to descend to the floor of the room below. 

Here, all was almost total darkness until his eyes 
became accustomed to the interior, the darkness of 


S58 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


which was slightly alleviated by the reflected light 
from a distant street flare which shone intermittently 
through the narrow windows fronting the thorough- 
fare. Finally, assured that the apartment was un- 
occupied, Tarzan sought for a stairway to the 
ground floor. This he found in a dark hallway upon 
which the room opened — a flight of narrow stone 
steps leading downward toward the street. Chance 
favored him so that he reached the shadows of the 
arcade without encountering any of the inmates of 
the house. 

Once on the street he was not at a loss as to the 
direction which he wished to go for he had tracked 
the two Europeans practically to the gate, which he 
felt assured must have given them entry to the city. 
His keen sense of direction and location made it 
possible for him to judge with considerable accuracy 
the point within the city where he might hope to pick 
up the spoor of those whom he sought. 

The first need, however, was to discover a street 
paralleling the northern wall along which he could 
make his way in the direction of the gate he had seen 
from the forest. Realizing that his greatest hope 
of success lay in the boldness of his operations he 
moved off in the direction of the nearest street 
flare without making any other attempt at conceal- 
ment than keeping in the shadows of the arcade, 
which he judged would draw no particular attention 
to him in that he saw other pedestrians doing like- 
wise. The few he passed gave him no heed, and he 
had almost reached the nearest intersection when 


CAME TARZAN 


359 


he saw several men wearing yellow tunics identical 
to that which he had taken from his prisoner. 

They were coming directly toward him and the 
ape-man saw that should he continue on he would 
meet them directly at the intersection of the two 
streets in the full light of the flare. His first inclina- 
tion was to go steadily on, for personally he had no 
objection to chancing a scrimmage with them; but a 
sudden recollection of the girl, possibly a helpless 
prisoner in the hands of these people, caused hinj 
to seek some other and less hazardous plan of action, 

He had almost emerged from the shadow of the 
arcade into the full light of the flare and the ap«» 
proaching men were but a few yards from him, 
when he suddenly kneeled and pretended to adjust 
the wrappings of his sandals — wrappings, which, 
by the way, he was not at all sure that he had 
adjusted as their makers had intended them to be 
adjusted. He was still kneeling when the soldiers 
came abreast of him. Like the others he had passed 
they paid no attention to him and the moment they 
were behind him he continued upon his way, turning 
to the right at the intersection of the two streets. 

The street he now took was, at this point, so 
extremely winding that, for the most part, it 
received no benefit from the flares at either corner, 
so that he was forced practically to grope his way 
in the dense shadows of the arcade. The street 
became a little straighter just before he reached 
the next flare, and as he came within sight of it he 
saw silhouetted against a patch of light the figure 


360 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


of a lion. The beast was coming slowly down the 
street in Tarzan’s direction. 

A woman crossed the way directly in front of it 
and the lion paid no attention to her, nor she to the 
lion. An instant later a little child ran after the 
woman and so close did he run before the lion that 
the beast was forced to turn out of its way a step 
to avoid colliding with the little one. The ape-man 
grinned and crossed quickly to the opposite side of 
the street, for his delicate senses indicated that at 
this point the breeze stirring through the city streets 
and deflected by the opposite wall would now blow 
from the lion toward him as the beast passed, 
whereas if he remained upon the side of the street 
upon which he had been walking when he discovered 
Ihe carnivore, his scent would have been borne to the 
nostrils of the animal, and Tarzan was sufficiently 
jungle-wise to realize that while he might deceive 
the eyes of man and beast he could not so easily 
disguise from the nostrils of one of the great cats 
that he was a creature of a different species from the 
inhabitants of the city, the only human beings, pos- 
sibly, that Numa was familiar with. In him the cat 
would recognize a stranger, and, therefore, an 
enemy, and Tarzan had no desire to be delayed by 
an encounter with a savage lion. His ruse worked 
successfully, the lion passing him with not more than 
a side glance in his direction. 

He had proceeded for some little distance and had 
about reached a point where he judged he would 
find the street which led up from the city gate 


CAME TARZAN 


361 


when, at an intersection of two streets, his nostrils 
caught the scent spoor of the girl. Out of a maze 
of other scent spoors the ape-man picked the familiar 
odor of the girl and, a second later, that of Smith- 
Oldwick. He had been forced to accomplish it, how- 
ever, by bending very low at each street intersec- 
tion in repeated attention to his sandal wrappings, 
bringing his nostrils as close to the pavement as 
possible. 

As he advanced along the street through which the 
two had been conducted earlier in the day he noted, 
as had they, the change in the type of buildings as 
he passed from a residence district into that portion 
occupied by shops and bazaars. Here the number 
of flares was increased so that they appeared not 
only at street intersections but midway between as 
well, and there were many more people abroad. The 
shops were open and lighted, for with the setting of 
the sun the intense heat of the day had given place 
to a pleasant coolness. Here also the number of 
lions, roaming loose through the thoroughfares, in- 
creased, and also for the first time Tarzan noted the 
idiosyncrasies of the people. 

Once he was nearly upset by a naked man running 
rapidly through the street screaming at the top of 
his voice. And again he nearly stumbled over a 
woman who was making her way in the shadows of 
one of the arcades upon all fours. At first the ape- 
man thought she was hunting for something she 
had dropped, but as he drew to one side to watch 
her, he saw that she was doing nothing of the kind — ■ 


362 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


that she had merely elected to walk upon her hands 
and knees rather than erect upon her feet. In 
another block he saw two creatures struggling upon 
the roof of an adjacent building until finally one 
of them, wrenching himself free from the grasp of 
the other, gave his adversary a mighty push which 
hurled him to the pavement below where he lay mo- 
tionless upon the dusty road. For an instant a wild 
shriek re-echoed through the city from the lungs of 
the victor and then, without an instant’s hesitation, 
the fellow leaped headfirst to the street beside the 
body of his victim. A lion moved out from the 
dense shadows of a doorway and approached the two 
bloody and lifeless things before him. Tarzan won- 
dered what effect the odor of blood would have upon 
the beast and was surprised to see that the animal 
only sniffed at the corpses and the hot red blood and 
then lay down beside the two dead men. 

He had passed the lion but a short distance when 
his attention was called to the figure of a man lower- 
ing himself laboriously from the roof of a building 
upon the east side of the thoroughfare. Tarzan’s 
curiosity was aroused. 


CHAPTER XXI 


IN THE ALCOVE 


3 SMITH-OLDWICK realized that he was 



rv alone and practically defenseless in an enclo- 
sure filled with great lions he was, in his weakened 
condition, almost in a state verging upon hysterica^ 
terror. Clinging to the grating for support ht 
dared not turn his head in the direction of th^ 
beasts behind him. He felt his knees giving weakly 
beneath him. Something within his head spun rap- 
idly around. He became very dizzy and nauseated 
and then suddenly all went black before his 
eyes as his limp body collapsed at the foot of the 
grating. 

How long he lay there unconscious he never knew ; 
but as reason slowly reasserted itself in his semi- 
conscious state he was aware that he lay in a cool 
bed upon the whitest of linen in a bright and cheery 
room, and that upon one side close to him was an 
open window, the delicate hangings of which were 
fluttering in a soft summer breeze which blew in 
from a sun-kissed orchard of ripening fruit which 
he could see without — an old orchard in which soft, 
green grass grew between the laden trees, and where 
the sun filtered through the foliage .5 and upon the 


863 


364 


tarzan the untamed 


dappled greensward a little child was playing with a 
frolicsome puppy. 

‘‘ God,” thought the man, “ what a horrible night- 
mare I have passed through!” and then he felt a 
hand stroking his brow and cheek — a cool and 
gentle hand that smoothed away his troubled recol- 
lections. For a long minute Smith-Oldwick lay in 
utter peace and content until gradually there was 
forced upon his sensibilities the fact that the hand 
had become rough, and that it was no longer cool 
but hot and moist ; and suddenly he opened his eyes 
and looked up into the face of a huge lion. 

Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick was not 
only an English gentleman and an officer in name, 
he was also what these implied — a brave man; but 
(v^hen he realized that the sweet picture he had looked 
upon was but the figment of a dream, and that in 
reality he still lay where he had fallen at the foot 
of the grating with a lion standing over him licking 
his face, the tears sprang to his eyes and ran down 
his cheeks. Never, he thought, had an unkind fate 
played so cruel a joke upon a human being. 

For some time he lay feigning death while the 
lion, having ceased to lick him, sniffed about his 
body. There are some things than which death is 
to be preferred; and there came at last to the 
Englishman the realization that it would be better to 
die swiftly than to lie in this horrible predicament 
until his mind broke beneath the strain and he went 
mad. 

And so, deliberately and without haste, he rose, 


IN THE ALCOVE 


365 


clinging to the grating for support. At his first 
move the lion growled, but after that he paid no 
further attention to the man, and when at last 
Smith-Oldwick had regained his feet the lion moved 
indifferently away. Then it was that the man 
turned and looked about the enclosure. 

Sprawled beneath the shade of the trees and lying 
upon the long bench beside the south wall the great 
beasts rested, with the exception of two or three 
who moved restlessly about. It was these that the 
man feared and yet when two more of them had 
passed him by he began to feel reassured, recalling 
the fact that they were accustomed to the presence 
of man. 

And yet he dared not move from the grating. 
As the man examined his surroundings he noted that 
the branches of one of the trees near the furthet 
wall spread close beneath an open window. If he 
could reach that tree and had the strength to do 
so, he could easily climb out upon the branch and 
escape, at least, from the enclosure of the lions. 
But in order to reach the tree he must pass the 
full length of the enclosure, and at the very bole 
of the tree itself two lions lay sprawled out in 
slumber. 

For half an hour the man stood gazing longingly 
at this seeming avenue of escape, and at last, with a 
muttered oath, he straightened up and throwing 
back his shoulders in a gesture of defiance, he 
walked slowly and deliberately down the center of 
the courtyard. One of the prowling lions turned 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


from the side wall and moved toward the center 
directly in the man’s path, but Smith-Oldwick was 
committed to what he considered his one chance, for 
even temporary safety, and so he kept on, ignoring 
the presence of the beast. The lion slouched to his 
side and sniffed him and then, growling, he bared 
his teeth. 

Smith-Oldwick drew the pistol from his shirt. 
“ If he has made up his mind to kill me,” he thought. 
‘‘I can’t see that it will make any difference in the 
long run whether I infuriate him or not. The beg- 
gar can’t kill me any deader in one mood than 
another.” 

But with the man’s movement in withdrawing the 
weapon from his shirt the lion’s attitude suddenly 
altered and though he still growled he turned and 
sprang away, and then at last the Englishman stood 
almost at the foot of the tree that was his goal, 
and between him and safety sprawled a sleeping lion. 

Above him was a limb that ordinarily he could 
have leaped for and reached with ease; but weak 
from his wounds and loss of blood he doubted his 
ability to do so now. There was even a question 
as to whether he would be able to ascend the tree 
at all. There was just one chance : the lowest branch 
left the bole within easy reach of a man standing on 
the ground close to the tree’s stem, but to reach 
a position where the branch would be accessible he 
must step over the body of a lion. Taking a deep 
breath he placed one foot between the sprawled legs 
of the beast and gingerly raised the other to plant 


IN THE ALCOVE 


367 


it upon the opposite side of the tawny body. 
“ What,” he thought, “ if the beggar should happen 
to wake now?” The suggestion sent a shudder 
through his frame but he did not hesitate or with- 
draw his foot. Gingerly he planted it beyond the 
lion, threw his weight forward upon it and cautiously 
brought his other foot to the side of the first. 
He had passed and the lion had not awakened. 

Smith-Oldwick was weak from loss of blood and 
the hardships he had undergone, but the realizatioii 
of his situation impelled him to a show of agility 
and energy which he probably could scarcely have 
■equaled when in possession of his normal strength. 
With his life depending upon the success of hif 
eifforts, he swung himself quickly to the lowef 
branches of the tree and scrambled upward out oI 
reach of possible harm from the lions below — < 
though the sudden movement in the branches above 
them awakened both the sleeping beasts. The ani-* 
mals raised their heads and looked questioningly up 
for a moment and then lay back again to resume 
their broken slumber. 

So easily had the Englishman succeeded thus far 
that he suddenly began to question as to whether 
he had at any time been in real danger. The lions, 
as he knew, were accustomed to the presence of men ; 
but yet they were still lions and he was free to admit 
that he breathed more easily now that he was safe 
above their clutches. 

Before him lay the open window he had seen 
from the ground. He was now on a level with it 


368 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


and could see an apparently unoccupied chamber 
beyond, and toward this he made his way along a 
stout branch that swung beneath the opening. It 
was not a difficult feat to reach the window, and a 
moment later he drew himself over the sill and 
dropped into the room. 

He found himself in a rather spacious apartment, 
the floor of which was covered with rugs of barbaric 
design, while the few pieces of furniture were of a 
similar type to that which he had seen in the room 
on the first floor into which he and Bertha Kircher 
had been ushered at the conclusion of their journey. 
At one end of the room was what appeared to be 
a curtained alcove, the heavy hangings of which 
completely hid the interior. In the wall opposite 
the window and near the alcove was a closed door, 
apparently the only exit from the room. 

He could see in the waning light without, that 
the close of the day was fast approaching, and he 
hesitated while he deliberated the advisability of 
waiting until darkness had fallen, or of immediately 
searching for some means of escape from the build- 
ing and the city. He at last decided that it would 
do no harm to investigate beyond the room that he 
might have some idea as how best to plan his escape 
after dark. To this end he crossed the room toward 
the door but he had taken only a few steps when 
the hangings before the alcove separated and the 
figure of a woman appeared in the opening. 

She was young and beautifully formed ; the single 
drapery wound around her body from below her 


IN THE ALCOVE 


369 


breasts left no detail of her symmetrical proportions 
unrevealed, but her face was the face of an imbecile. 
At sight of her Smith-Oldwick halted, momentarily 
expecting that his presence would elicit screams for 
help from her. On the contrary she came toward 
him smiling, and when she was close her slender, 
shapely fingers touched the sleeve of his torn blouse 
as a curious child might handle a new toy, and 
still with the same smile she examined him from 
head to foot, taking in, in childish wonderment, 
every detail of his apparel. 

Presently she spoke to him in a soft, well-modu** 
lated voice which contrasted sharply with her facia! 
appearance. The voice and the girlish figure har- 
monized perfectly and seemed to belong to each 
other, while the head and face were those of another 
creature. Smith-Oldwick could understand no word 
of what she said, but nevertheless he spoke to her 
in his own cultured tone, the effect of which upon 
her was evidently most gratifying, for before he 
realized her intentions or could prevent her she had 
thrown both arms about his neck and was kissing 
him with the utmost abandon. 

The man tried to free himself from her rather 
surprising attentions, but she only clung more 
tightly to him and suddenly, as he recalled that he 
had always heard that one must humor the mentally 
deficient, and at the same time seeing in her a pos- 
sible agency bf escape, he closed his eyes and re- 
turned her embraces. 

It was at this juncture that the door opened and 


S70 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


a man entered. With the sound from the first move- 
ment of the latch, Smith-Oldwick opened his eyes, 
but though he endeavored to disengage himself from 
the girl he realized that the newcomer had seen their 
rather compromising position. The girl, whose 
back was toward the door, seemed at first not to 
realize that someone had entered, but when she did 
she turned quickly and as her eyes fell upon the 
man whose terrible face was now distorted with an 
expression of hideous rage she turned, screaming, 
ind fled toward the alcove. The Englishman, flushed 
and embarrassed, stood where she had left him. 
With the sudden realization of the futility of at- 
tempting an explanation, came that of the menac- 
ing appearance of the man, whom he now recognized 
as the official who had received them in the room 
helow. The fellow’s face, livid with insane rage and, 
possibly, jealousy, was twitching violently, accentu- 
ating the maniacal expression that it habitually 
wore. 

For a moment he seemed paralyzed by anger, 
and then with a loud shriek that rose into an 
uncanny wail, he drew his curved saber and sprang 
toward the Englishman. To Smith-Oldwick there 
seemed no possible hope of escaping the keen-edged 
weapon in the hands of the infuriated man, and 
though he felt assured that it would draw down 
upon him an equally sudden and possibly more ter- 
rible death, he did the only thing that remained for 
him to do — drew his pistol and fired straight for 
the heart of the oncoming man. Without even so 


IN THE ALCOVE 


371 


much as a groan the fellow lunged forward upon the 
floor at Smith-Oldwick’s feet — killed instantly with 
a bullet through his heart. For several seconds the 
silence of the tomb reigned in the apartment. 

The Englishman, standing over the prostrate 
figure of the dead man, watched the door with drawn 
weapon, expecting momentarily to hear the rush of 
feet of those whom he was sure would immediately 
investigate the report of the pistol. But no sounds 
came from below to indicate that anyone there had 
heard the explosion, and presently the man’s atten- 
tion was distracted from the door to the alcove^ 
between the hangings of which the face of the girl 
appeared. The eyes were widely dilated and the 
lower jaw dropped in an expression of surprise and 
awe. 

The girl’s gaze was riveted upon the figure upon 
the floor, and presently she crept stealthily into the 
room and tiptoed toward the corpse. She appeared 
as though constantly poised for flight and when she 
had come to within two or three feet of the body she 
stopped and looking quickly up at Smith-Oldwick 
voiced some interrogation which he could not, of 
course, understand. Then she came close to the side 
of the dead man and kneeling upon the floor felt 
gingerly of the body. 

Presently she shook the corpse by the shoulder, 
and then with a show of strength which her tenderly 
girlish form belied, she turned the body over on 
its back. If she had been in doubt before, one glance 
at the hideous features set in death must have con- 


872 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


vinced her that life was extinct, and with the realiza* 
tion there broke from her lips peal after peal of 
mad, maniacal laughter as with her little hands she 
beat upon the upturned face and breast of the dead 
man. It was a gruesome sight from which the Eng- 
lishman involuntarily drew back — a gruesome, dis- 
gusting sight such as, he realized, might never be 
witnessed outside a madhouse or this frightful city. 

In the midst of her frenzied rejoicing at the death 
of the man, and Smith-Oldwick could attribute her 
actions to no other cause, she suddenly desisted from 
her futile attacks upon the insensate flesh and, 
leaping to her feet, ran quickly to the door where 
she shot a wooden bolt into its socket, thus securing 
them from interference from without. Then she 
returned to the center of the room and spoke rapidly 
to the Englishman gesturing occasionally toward 
the body of the slain man. When he could not 
understand she presently became provoked and in a 
sudden hysteria of madness she rushed forward as 
though to strike the Englishman. Smith-Oldwick 
dropped back a few steps and leveled his pistol upon 
her. Mad though she must have been, she evidently 
was not so mad but what she had connected the 
loud report, the diminutive weapon, and the sudden 
death of the man in whose house she dwelt, for she 
instantly desisted and quite as suddenly as it had 
come upon her, her homicidal mood departed. 

Again the vacuous, imbecile smile took possession 
of her features and her voice, dropping its harsh- 
ness, resumed the soft, well-modulated tones with 


IN THE ALCOVE 


373 


which she had first addressed him. Now she at- 
tempted by signs to indicate her wishes, and motion- 
ing Smith-Oldwick to follow her she went to the 
hangings and opening them disclosed the alcove. It 
was rather more than an alcove, being a fair-sized 
room heavy with rugs and hangings and soft, pil- 
lowed couches. Turning at the entrance she pointed 
to the corpse upon the floor of the outer room, and 
then crossing the alcove she raised some draperies 
which covered a couch and fell to the floor upon all 
sides, disclosing an opening beneath the furniture. 

To this opening she pointed and then again to the 
corpse, indicating plainly to the Englishman that it 
was her desire that the body be hidden here. But if 
he had been in doubt, she essayed to dispel it by 
grasping his sleeve and urging him in the direction 
of the body which the two of them then lifted and 
half carried and half dragged into the alcove. At 
first they encountered some difficulty when they en- 
deavored to force the body of the man into the small 
space she had selected for it, but eventually they 
succeeded in doing so. Smith-Oldwick was again 
impressed by the fiendish brutality of the girl. In 
the center of the room lay a blood-stained rug which 
the girl quickly gathered up and draped over a piece 
of furniture in such a way that the stain was hid- 
den. By rearranging the other rugs and by bringing 
one from the alcove she restored the room to order 
so no outward indication of the tragedy so recently 
enacted there was apparent. 

These things attended to, and the h/>ngings draped 


374 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


once more about the couch that they might hide the 
gruesome thing beneath, the girl once more threw 
her arms about the Englishman’s neck and dragged 
him toward the soft and luxurious pillows above the 
dead man. Acutely conscious of the horror of his 
position, filled with loathing, disgust, and an out- 
raged sense of decency, Smith-Oldwick was also 
acutely alive to the demands of self-preservation. 
He felt that he was warranted in buying his life at 
almost any price; but there was a point at which 
his finer nature rebelled. 

It was at this juncture that a loud knock sounded 
upon the door of the outer room. Springing from 
the couch, the girl seized the man by the arm and 
dragged him after her to the wall close by the head 
of the couch. Here she drew back one of the hang- 
ings, revealing a little niches behind, into which she 
shoved the Englishman and dropped the hangings 
before him, effectually hiding him from observation 
from the rooms beyond. 

He heard her cross the alcove to the door of the 
outer room, he heard the bolt withdrawn followed 
by the voice of a man mingled with that of the girl. 
The tones of both seemed rational so that he might 
have been listening to an ordinary conversation in 
some foreign tongue. Yet with the gruesome experi- 
ences of the day behind him, he could not but mo- 
mentarily expect some insane outbreak from beyond 
the hangings. 

He was aware from the sounds that the two had 
entered the alcove and, prompted by a desire to know 


IN THE ALCOVE 


375 


what manner of man he might next have to contend 
with, he slightly parted the heavy folds that hid the 
two from his view and looking out saw them sitting 
on the couch with their arms about each other, the 
girl with the same expressionless smile upon her 
face that she had vouchsafed him. He found he 
could so arrange the hangings that a very narrow 
slit between two of them permitted him to watch the 
actions of those in the alcove without revealing him- 
self or increasing his liability of detection. 

He saw the girl lavishing her kisses upon the 
newcomer, a much younger man than he whom 
Smith-Oldwick had dispatched. Presently the girl 
disengaged herself from the embrace of her lover 
as though struck by a sudden memory. Her brows 
puckered as in labored thought and then with a 
startled expression, she threw a glance backward 
toward the hidden niche where the Englishman stood, 
after which she whispered rapidly to her companion, 
occasionally jerking her head in the direction of the 
niche and on several occasions making a move with 
one hand and forefinger, which Smith-Oldwick could 
not mistake as other than an attempt to describe 
his pistol and its use. 

It was evident then to him that she was betraying 
him, and without further loss of time he turned his 
back toward the hangings and commenced a rapid 
examination of his hiding place. In the alcove the 
man and the girl whispered, and then cautiously 
and with great stealth, the man rose and drew his 
curved saber. On tiptoe he approached the hang- 


376 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


ings, the girl creeping at his side. Neither spoke 
now, nor was there any sound in the room as the 
girl sprang forward and with outstretched arm and 
pointing finger indicated a point upon the curtain at 
the height of a man’s breast. Then she stepped 
to one side, and her companion, raising his blade to 
a horizontal position, lunged suddenly forward and 
with the full weight of his body and his right arm, 
drove the sharp point through the hangings and 
into the niche behind for its full length. 

Bertha Kircher, finding her struggles futile and 
realizing that she must conserve her strength fop 
Bome chance opportunity of escape, desisted from 
her efforts to break from the grasp of Prince Metak 
as the fellow fled with her through the dimly lighted 
corridors of the palace. Through many chambers 
the prince fled, bearing his prize. It was evident 
to the girl that, though her captor was the king’s 
son, he was not above capture and punishment for his 
deeds, as otherwise he would not have shown such 
evident anxiety to escape with her, as well as from 
the results of his act. 

From the fact that he was constantly turning 
affrighted eyes behind them, and glancing suspici- 
ously into every nook and comer that they passed, 
she guessed that the prince’s punishment might be 
both speedy and terrible were he caught. 

She knew from their route that they must have 
doubled back several times although she had quite 
lost all sense of direction ; but she did not know that 


IN THE ALCOVE 


377 


the prince was as equally confused as she, and that 
really he was running in an aimless, erratic manner 
hoping that he might stumble eventually upon a 
place of refuge. 

Nor is it to be wondered at that this offspring of 
maniacs should have difficulty in orienting himself 
in the winding mazes of a palace designed by maniacs 
for a maniac king. Now a corridor turned gradually 
and almost imperceptibly in a new direction, again 
one doubled back upon and crossed itself; here the 
floor rose gradually to the level of another story, or 
again there might be a spiral stairway down which 
the mad prince rushed dizzily with his burden. 
Upon what floor they were or in what part of the 
palace even Metak had no idea until, halting 
abruptly at a closed door, he pushed it open to step 
into a brilliantly lighted chamber filled with war* 
riors, at one end of which sat the king upon a great 
throne; beside this, to the girl’s surprise, she saw 
another throne where was seated a huge lioness, 
recalling to her the words of Xanila which, at the 
time, had made no impression on her: “But he had 
many other queens, nor were they all human.” 

At sight of Metak and the girl, the king rose from 
his throne and started across the chamber, all 
semblance of royalty vanishing in the maniac’s un- 
controllable passion. And as he came he shrieked 
orders and commands at the top of his voice. No 
sooner had Metak so unwarily opened the door to 
this hornets^ nest than he immediately withdrew and^ 
turning, fled again in a new direction. But now ^ 


378 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


hundred men were close upon his heels, laughing, 
shrieking, and possibly cursing. He dodged hither 
and thither distancing them for several minutes 
until, at the bottom of a long runway that inclined 
steeply downward from a higher level, he burst into 
a subterranean apartment lighted by many flares. 

In the center of the room was a pool of consider- 
able size, the level of the water being but a few inches 
below the floor. Those behind the fleeing prince 
and his captive entered the chamber in time to see 
Metak leap into the water with the girl and disap- 
pear beneath the surface taking his captive with him, 
nor, though they waited excitedly around the rim 
of the pool, did either of the two again emerge. 

When Smith-Oldwick turned to investigate his 
hiding place his hands, groping upon the rear wall, 
immediately came in contact with the wooden panels 
of a door and a bolt such as that which secured the 
door of the outer room. Cautiously and silently 
drawing the wooden bar he pushed gently against 
the panel to find that the door swung easily and 
noiselessly outward into utter darkness. Moving 
carefully and feeling forward for each step he passed 
out of the niche, closing the door behind him. 

Feeling about he discovered that he was in a nar- 
row corridor which he followed cautiously for a few 
yards to be brought up suddenly by what appeared 
to be a ladder across the passageway. He felt of 
the obstruction carefully with his hands until he was 
assured that it was indeed a ladder and that a solid 


IN THE ALCOVE 


379 


wall was just beyond it, ending the corridor. There- 
fore, as he could not go forward and as the ladder 
ended at the floor upon which he stood, and as he 
did not care to retrace his steps, there was no al- 
ternative but to climb upward, and this he did, his 
pistol ready in a side pocket of his blouse. 

He had ascended but two or three rungs when 
his head came suddenly and painfully in contact 
with a hard surface above him. Groping about 
with one hand over his head he discovered that the 
obstacle seemed to be the covering to a trapdoor in 
the ceiling which, with a little effort, he succeeded 
in raising a couple of inches, revealing through the 
cracks the stars of a clear African night. 

With a sigh of relief, but with unabated caution, 
he gently slid the trapdoor to one side far enough 
to permit him to raise his eyes above the level of 
the roof. A quick glance assured him that there was 
none near enough to observe his movements, nor, in 
fact, as far as he could see, was anyone in sight. 

Drawing himself quickly through the aperture 
he replaced the cover and endeavored to regain his 
bearings. Directly to the south of him the low roof 
he stood upon adjoined a much loftier portion of 
the building, which rose several stories above his 
head. A few yards to the west he could see the 
flickering light of the flares of a winding street, and 
toward this he made his way. 

From the edge of the roof he looked down upon 
the night life of the mad city. He saw men and 
women and children and lions, and of all that he saw 


sso 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


it was quite evident to him that only the lions were 
sane. With the aid of the stars he easily picked 
out the points of the compass, and following care- 
fully in his memory the steps that had led him into 
the city and to the roof upon which he now stood, 
he knew that the thoroughfare upon which he looked 
was the same along which he and Bertha Kircher 
had been led as prisoners earlier in the day. 

If he could reach this he might be able to pass 
undetected in the shadows of the arcade to the city 
gate. He had already given up as futile the thought 
of seeking out the girl and attempting to succor 
/ler, for he knew that alone and with the few remain- 
ing rounds of ammunition he possessed, he could 
do nothing against this city-full of armed men. That 
he could live to cross, the lion-infested forest beyond 
the city was doubtful and that having, by some 
miracle, won to the desert beyond, his fate would 
be certainly sealed, but yet he was consumed with 
but one desire — to leave behind him as far as pos- 
sible this horrid city of maniacs. 

He saw that the roofs rose to the same level 
as that upon which he stood unbroken to the north 
to the next street intersection. Directly below him 
was a flare. To reach the pavement in safety it 
was necessary that he find as dark a portion of the 
avenue as possible. And so he sought along the 
edge of the roofs for a place where he might descend 
in comparative concealment. 

He had proceeded some little way beyond a point 
where the street curved abruptly to the east before 


IN THE ALCOVE 


381 


tie discovered a location sufficiently to his liking. 
But even here he was compelled to wait a consid>* 
erable time for a satisfactory moment for his descent 
which he had decided to make down one of the pillars 
of the arcade. Each time he prepared to lower him- 
self over the edge of the roofs, footsteps approach- 
ing in one direction or another deterred him until at 
last he had almost come to the conclusion that he 
would have to wait for the entire city to sleep before 
continuing his flight. 

But finally came a moment which he felt propitious 
and though with inward qualms it was with outward 
calm that he commenced the descent to the street 
below. 

When at last he stood beneath the arcade he was 
congratulating himself upon the success that had 
attended his efforts up to this point when, at a slight 
sound behind him, he turned to see a tall figure in the 
yellow tunic of a warrior confronting him. 


CHAPTER XXII 


OUT OF THE NICHE 


MA, the lion, growled futilely in baffled rage 



IM as he slipped back to the ground at the foot 
of the wall after his unsuccessful attempt to drag 
down the fleeing ape-man. He poised to make a 
second effort to follow his escaping quarry when his 
nose picked up a hitherto unnoticed quality in the 
scent spoor of his intended prey. Snifflng at the 
ground that Tarzan’s feet had barely touched, 
Numa’s growl changed to a low whine, for he had 
recognized the scent spoor of the man-thing that 
had rescued him from the pit of the Wamabos. 

What thoughts passed through that massive 
head ? Who may say ? But now there was no indica- 
tion of baffled rage as the great lion turned and 
moved majestically eastward along the wall. At 
the eastern end of the city he turned toward the 
south, continuing his way to the south side of the 
wall along which were the pens and corrals where 
the herbivorous flocks were fattened for the herds 
of domesticated lions within the city. The great 
black lions of the forest fed with almost equal im- 
partiality upon the flesh of the grass-eaters and 
man. Like Numa of the pit they occasionally made 


882 


OUT OF THE NICHE 


383 


excursions across the desert to the fertile valley of 
the Wamabos, but principally they took their toll 
of meat from the herds of the walled city of Herog, 
the mad king, or seized upon some of his luckless 
subjects. 

Numa of the pit was in some respects an exception 
to the rule which guided his fellows of the forest 
in that as a cub he had been trapped and carried 
into the city where he was kept for breeding pur- 
poses, only to escape in his second year. They had 
tried to teach him in the city of maniacs that he 
must not eat the flesh of man, and the result of 
their schooling was that only when aroused to anger 
or upon that one occasion that he had been impelled 
by the pangs of hunger, did he ever attack man. 

The animal corrals of the maniacs are protected 
by an outer wall or palisade of upright logs, the 
lower ends of which are imbedded in the ground, 
the logs themselves being placed as close together 
as possible and further reinforced and bound to- 
gether by withes. At intervals there are gates 
through which the flocks are turned on to the graz- 
ing land south of the city during the daytime. It 
is at such times that the black lions of the forest 
take their greatest toll from the herds, and it is 
infrequent that a lion attempts to enter the corrals 
at night. But Numa of the pit, having scented the 
spoor of his benefactor, was minded again to pass 
into the walled city and with that idea in his cun- 
ning brain he crept stealthily along the outer side of 
the palisade, testing each gateway with a padded 


S84 TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


foot until at last he discovered one which seemed 
insecurely fastened. Lowering his great head he 
pressed against the gate surging forward with all 
the weight of his huge body and the strength of 
his giant sinews — one mighty effort and Numa was 
within the corral. 

The enclosure contained a herd of goats which 
immediately upon the advent of the carnivore started 
a mad stampede to the opposite end of the corral 
which was bounded by the south wall of the city. 
Numa had been within such a corral as this before 
so that he knew that somewhere in the wall was a 
small door through which the goatherd might pass 
from the city to his flock; toward this door he made 
his way, whether by plan or accident it is difficult 
to say, though in the light of ensuing events it 
seems possible that the former was the case. 

To reach the gate he must pass directly through 
the herd which had huddled affrightedly close to the 
opening so that once again there was a furious rush 
of hoofs as Numa strode quickly to the side of the 
portal. If Numa had planned, he had planned well, 
for scarcely had he reached his position when the 
door opened and a herder^s head was projected 
into the enclosure, the fellow evidently seeking an 
explanation of the disturbance among his flock, 
Possibly he discovered the cause of the commotion 5 
but it is doubtful, for it was dark and the great, 
taloned paw that reached up and struck downward 
a mighty blow that almost severed his head from 
his body, moved so quickly and silently that the 


OUT OF THE NICHE 


385 


man was dead within a fraction of a second from 
the moment that he opened the door, and then Numa, 
knowing now his way, passed through the wall into 
the dimly lighted streets of the city beyond. 

Smith-Oldwick’s first thought when he was ac- 
costed by the figure in the yellow tunic of a soldier 
was to shoot the man dead and trust to his legs 
and the dimly lighted winding streets to permit 
his escape, for he knew that to be accosted was 
equivalent to recapture since no inhabitant of this 
weird city but would recognize him as an alien. 
It would be a simple thing to shoot the man from 
the pocket where the pistol lay without drawing the 
weapon, and with this purpose in mind the English- 
.(pan slipped his hands into the side pocket of his 
blouse, but simultaneously with this action his wrist 
was seized in a powerful grasp and a low voice 
whispered in English: ‘‘Lieutenant, it is I, Tarzan 
of the Apes.” 

The relief from the nervous strain under which 
he had been laboring for so long, left Smith-Old- 
wick suddenly as weak as a babe, so that he was 
forced to grasp the ape-man’s arm for support — > 
and when he found his voice all he could do was to 
repeat: “You.^ You? I thought you were dead!” 

“ No, not dead,” replied Tarzan, “ and I see that 
you are not either. But how about the girl.?^” 

“I haven’t seen her,” replied the Englishman, 
“since we were brought here. We were taken into 
-a building on ^he plaza close by and there we were 


S86 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


separated. She was led away by guards and I was 
put into a den of lions. I haven’t seen her since.” 

“ How did you escape ? ” asked the ape-man. 

“The lions didn’t seem to pay much attention to 
me and I climbed out of the place by way of a tree 
and through a window into a room on the second 
floor. Had a little scrimmage there with a fellow 
and was hidden by one of their women in a hole 
in the wall. The loony thing then betrayed me to 
another bounder who happened in, but I found a way 
out and up onto the roof where I have been for 
quite some time now waiting for a chance to get 
down into the street without being seen. That’s all 
I know, but I haven’t the slightest idea in the world 
T^h-ere to look for Miss Kircher.” 

“Where were you going now?” asked Tarzan. 

Smith-Oldwick hesitated. “I — well, I couldn’t 
do anything here alone and I was going to try to 
get out of the city and in some way reach the 
British forces east and bring help.” 

“You couldn’t do it,” said Tarzan, “even if you 
got through the forest alive you could never cross 
the desert country without food or water.” 

“What shall we do, then?” asked the English- 
man. 

“We will see if we can find the girl,” replied the 
ape-man and then, as though he had forgotten the 
presence of the Englishman and was arguing to con- 
vince himself, “She may be a German and a spy, 
but she is a woman — a white woman — I can’t leave 
her here.” 


OUT OF THE NICHE 


387 


“But how are we going to find her?” asked the 
Englishman. 

“ I have followed her this far,” replied Tarzan, 
“and unless I am greatly mistaken I can follow 
her still farther.” 

“But I cannot accompany you in these clothes 
without exposing us both to detection and arrest,” 
argued Smith-Oldwick. 

“We wiU get you other clothes, then,” said 
Tarzan. 

“How?” asked the Englishman. 

“Go back to the roof beside the city wall where 
I entered,” replied the ape-man with a grim smile, 
“and ask the naked dead man there how I got my 
disguise.” 

Smith-Oldwick looked quickly up at his compam 
ion. “I have it,” he exclaimed. “I know where 
there is a fellow who doesn’t need his clothes any- 
more, and if we can get back on this roof I think 
we can find him and get his apparel without much 
resistance. Only a girl and a young fellow whom 
we could easily surprise and overcome.” 

“What do you mean?” asked Tarzan. “How 
do you know that the man doesn’t need his clothes 
any more.” 

“I know he doesn’t need them,” replied the 
Englishman, “because I killed him.” 

“Oh!” exclaimed the ape-man, “I see. I guess 
it might be easier that way than to tackle one of 
these fellows in the street where there is more chance 
of our being interrupted.” 


388 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


“But how are we going to reach the roof again, 
after all?” queried Smith-Oldwick. 

“The same way you came down,” replied Tarzan. 
“This roof is low and there is a little ledge formed 
by the capital of each column; I noticed that when 
you descended. Some of the buildings wouldn’t 
have been so easy to negotiate.” 

Smith-Oldwick looked up toward the eaves of the 
low roof. “ It’s not very high,” he said, “ but I am 
afraid I can’t make it. I’ll try — I’ve been pretty 
weak since a lion mauled me and the guards beat 
me up, and too, I haven’t eaten since yesterday.” 

Tarzan thought a moment. “You’ve got to go 
with me,” he said at last. “I can’t leave you here. 
The only chance you have of escape is through me 
and I can’t go with you now imtil we have found 
the girl.” 

“I want to go with you,” replied Smith-Oldwick, 
“ I’m not much good now but at that two of us may 
be better than one.” 

“All right,” said Tarzan, “come on,” and before 
the Englishman realized what the other contemplated 
Tarzan had picked him up and thrown him across 
his shoulder. “Now, hang on,” whispered the ape- 
man, and with a short run he clambered apelike up 
the front of the low arcade. So quickly and easily 
was it done that the Englishman scarcely had time 
to realize what was happening before he was de- 
posited safely upon the roof. 

“There,” remarked Tarzan. “Now, lead me to 
the place you speak of.” 


OUT OF THE NICHE 


389 


Smith-Oldwick had no difficulty in locating the 
trap in the roof through which he had escaped. 
Removing the cover the ape-man bent low, listening, 
and sniffing. ‘‘Come,” he said after a moment’s 
investigation and lowered himself to the floor be- 
neath. Smith-Oldwick followed him and together 
the two crept through the darkness toward the door 
in the back wall of the niche in which the English- 
man had been hidden by the girl. They found the 
door ajar and opening it Tarzan saw a streak of 
light showing through the hangings that separated 
/t from the alcove. 

Pladng his eye close to the aperture he saw the 
girl and the young man of which the Englishman 
had spoken seated on opposite sides of a low table 
upon which food was spread. Serving them was a 
giant Negro and it was he whom the ape-man watched 
most closely. Familiar with the tribal idiosyncrasies 
of a g?*eat number of African tribes over a consider- 
able proportion of the Dark Continent, the Tar- 
mangf ni at last felt reasonably assured that he knew 
from what part of Africa this slave had come, and 
the dialect of his people. There was, however, the 
chjrnce that the fellow had been captured in childhood 
and that through long years of non-use his native 
language had become lost to him, but then there 
always had been an element of chance connected with 
nearly every event of Tarzan’s life, so he waited 
patiently until in the performance of his duties the 
black man approached a little table which stood near 
the niche in which Tarzan and the Englishman hid. 


390 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


As the slave bent over some dish which stood upon 
the table his ear was not far from the aperture 
through which Tarzan looked. Apparently from a 
solid wall, for the Negro had no knowledge of thte 
existence of the niche, came to him in the tongue 
of his own people, the whispered words: “If you 
would return to the land of the Wamabo say noth- 
ing, but do as I bid you.” 

The black rolled terrified eyes toward the hang- 
ings at his side. The ape-man could see him tremble 
and for a moment was fearful that in his terror he 
would betray them. “ Fear not,” he whispered, “ we 
are your friends.” 

At last the Negro spoke in a low whisper, scarcely 
audible even to the keen ears of the ape-man. 
“ What,” he asked, “ can poor Otobu do for the god 
who speaks to him out of the solid wall?” 

“This,” replied Tarzan. “Two of us are com- 
ing into this room. Help us prevent this man and 
woman from escaping or raising an outcry that will 
bring others to their aid.” 

“I will help you,” replied the Negro, “to keep 
them within this room, but do not fear that their 
outcries will bring others. These walls are built 
so that no sound may pass through and even if it 
did what difference would it make in this village 
which is constantly filled with the screams of its mad 
people. Do not fear their cries. No one will notice 
them. I go to do your bidding.” 

Tarzan saw the black cross the room to the table 
upon which he placed another dish of food befor^' 


OUT OF THE NICHE 


391 


the feasters. Then he stepped to a place behind 
the man and as he did so raised his eyes to the point 
in the wall from which the ape-man’s voice had 
come to him, as much as to say, “Master, I am 
ready.” 

Without more delay Tarzan threw aside the hang, 
ings and stepped into the room. As he did so the 
young man rose from the table to be instantly seized 
from behind by the black slave. The girl, whose 
back was toward the ape-man and his companion, 
was not at first aware of their presence but saw 
only the attack of the slave upon her lover, and with 
a loud scream she leaped forward to assist the lat- 
ter. Tarzan sprang to her side and laid a heavy 
hand upon her arm before she could interfere with 
Otobu’s attentions to the young man. At first, as 
she turned toward the ape-man, her face reflected 
only mad rage, but almost instantly this changed 
into the vapid smile with which Smith-Oldwick was 
already familiar and her slim fingers commenced 
their soft appraisement of the newcomer. 

Almost immediately she discovered Smith-Oldwick 
but there was neither surprise nor anger upon her 
countenance. Evidently the poor mad creature 
knew but two principal moods from one to the other 
of which she changed with lightning-like rapidity. 

“Watch her a moment,” said Tarzan to the Eng- 
lishman, “while I disarm that fellow,” and stepping 
to the side of the young man whom Otobu was having 
difficulty in subduing Tarzan relieved him of his 
saber. “Tell them,” he said to the Negro, “if you 


S92 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


speak their language, that we will not harm them if 
they leave us alone and let us depart in peace.” 

The black had been looking at Tarzan with wide 
eyes, evidently not comprehending how this god 
could appear in so material a form, and with the 
voice of a white Bwana and the uniform of a warrior 
of this city to which he quite evidently did not 
belong. But nevertheless his first confidence in the 
voice that offered him freedom was not lessened and 
he did as Tarzan bid him. 

‘‘ They want to know what you want,” said Otobu 
after he had spoken to the man and the girl. 

“Tell them that we want food for one thing,” 
said Tarzan, “and something else that we know 
where to find in this room. Take the man’s spear, 
Otobu, I see it leaning against the wall in the corner 
of the room. And you, Lieutenant, take his saber,” 
and then again to Otobu, “I will watch the man 
while you go and bring forth that which is beneath 
the couch over against this wall,” and Tarzan indi- 
cated the location of the piece of furniture. 

Otobu, trained to obey, did as he was bid. The 
eyes of the man and the girl followed him, and as 
he drew back the hangings and dragged forth the 
corpse of the man Smith-Oldwick had slain, the girl’s 
lover voiced a loud scream and attempted to leap 
forward to the side of the corpse. Tarzan, however, 
seized him and then the fellow turned upon him 
with teeth and nails. It was with no little difficulty 
that Tarzan finally subdued the man, and while 
Otobu was removing the outer clothing from the 


OUT OF THE NICHE 


393 


corpsG, Tarzan asked the black to question the 
young man as to his evident excitement at the sight 
of the body. 

‘‘ I can tell you Bwana,” replied Otobu. ‘‘ This 
man was his father.” 

“What is he saying to the girl?” asked Tarzan. 

“He is asking her if she knew that the body of 
his father was under the couch. And she is saying 
that she did not know" it.” 

Tarzan repeated the conversation to Smith-Old- 
wick who smiled. “If the chap could have seen her 
removing all evidence of the crime, and arranging 
the hangings of the couch so that the body was con- 
cealed after she had helped me drag it across the 
room, he wouldn’t have very much doubt as to her 
knowledge of the affair. The rug you see draped 
over the bench in the corner was arranged to hide 
the blood stain — in some ways they are not so loony 
after all.” 

The black man had now removed the outer gar- 
ments from the dead man, and Smith-Oldwick wa» 
hastily drawing them on over his own clothing. 
“And now,” said Tarzan, “we will sit down and 
eat. One accomplishes little on an empty stomach.’* 
As they ate the ape-man attempted to carry on a 
conversation with the two natives through Otobu. 
He learned that they were in the palace which had 
belonged to the dead man lying upon the floor beside 
them. He had held an official position of some 
nature, and he and his family were of the ruling 
class but were not members of the court. 


394 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


When Tarzan questioned them about Bertha 
Kircher, the young man said that she had been 
taken to the king’s palace; and when asked why 
replied: ‘‘For the king, of course.” 

During the conversation both the man and the 
girl appeared quite rational, even asking some ques- 
tions as to the country from which their uninvited 
guests had come, and evidencing much surprise when 
informed that there was anything but waterless 
wastes beyond their own valley. 

When Otobu asked the man, at Tarzan’s sugges- 
tion, if he was familiar with the interior of the king’s 
palace he replied that he was; that he was a friend 
of Prince Metak, one of the king’s sons, and that 
he often visited the palace and that Metak also came 
here to his father’s palace frequently. As Tarzan 
ate he racked his brain for some plan whereby he 
might utilize the knowledge of the young man to 
gain entrance to the palace, but he had arrived at 
nothing which he considered feasible when there came 
a loud knocking upon the door of the outer room. 

For a moment no one spoke and then the young 
man raised his voice and cried aloud to those with- 
out. Immediately Otobu sprang for the fellow and 
attempted to smother his words by clapping a palm 
over his mouth. 

“What is he saying .f*” asked Tarzan. 

“He is telling them to break down the door and 
rescue him and the girl from two strangers who 
entered and made them prisoners. If they enter 
they will kill us all.” 


OUT OF THE NICHE 


395 


“Tell him,” said Tarzan, “to hold his peace or 
I will slay him.” 

Otobu did as he was instructed and the young 
maniac lapsed into scowling silence. Tarzan crossed 
the alcove and entered the outer room to note the 
effect of the assaults upon the door. Smith-Oldwick 
followed him a few steps, leaving Otobu to guard the 
two prisoners. The ape-man saw that the door 
could not long withstand the heavy blows being 
dealt the panels from without. “I wanted to use 
that fellow in the other room,” he said to Smith- 
Oldwick, “but I am afraid we will have to get out 
of here the way we came. We can’t accomplish 
anything by waiting here and meeting these fellows. 
From the noise out there there must be a dozen of 
them. Come,” he said, “you go first and I will 
follow.” 

As the two turned back from the alcove they wit- 
nessed an entirely different scene from that upon 
which they had turned their backs but a moment or 
two before. Stretched on the floor and apparently 
lifeless lay the body of the black slave while the two 
prisoners had vanished completely. 


CHAPTER XXin 


THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA 

AS METAK bore Bertha Kircher toward the 
XJl edge of the pool, the girl at first had no con- 
ception of the deed he contemplated but when, as 
they approached the edge, he did not lessen his speed 
she guessed the frightful truth. As he leaped head 
foremost with her into the water, she closed her 
eyes and breathed a silent prayer, for she was con- 
fident that the maniac had no other purpose than to 
drown himself and her. And yet, so potent is the 
first law of nature that even in the face of certain 
death, as she surely believed herself, she clung 
tenaciously to life, and while she struggled to free 
herself from the powerful clutches of the madman, 
she held her breath against the final moment when 
the asphyxiating waters must inevitably flood her 
lungs. 

Through the frightful ordeal she maintained 
absolute control of her senses so that, after the first 
plunge, she was aware that the man was swimming 
With her beneath the surface. He took perhaps not 
more than a dozen strokes directly toward the end 
wall of the pool and then he arose; and once again 
she knew that her head was above the surface. She 
396 


THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA 


397 


opened her eyes to see that they were in a corridor 
dimly lighted by gratings set in its roof — a winding 
corridor, water filled from wall to wall. 

Along this the man was swimming with easy pow- 
erful strokes, at the same time holding her chin above 
the water. For ten minutes he swam thus without 
stopping and the girl heard him speak to her, 
though she could not understand what he said, as 
he evidently immediately realized, for, half floating, 
he shifted his hold upon her so that he could touch 
her nose and mouth with the fingers of one hand» 
She grasped what he meant and immediately took a 
deep breath, whereat he dove quickly beneath the 
surface pulling her down with him and again for 
a dozen strokes or more he swam thus wholly sub- 
merged. 

When they again came to the surface, Bertha 
Kircher saw that they were in a large lagoon, and 
that the bright stars were shining high above them, 
while on either hand domed and minareted buildings 
were silhouetted sharply against the starlit sky. 
Metak swam swiftly to the north side of the lagoon 
where, by means of a ladder, the two climbed out 
upon the embankment. There were others in the 
plaza but they paid but little if any attention to the 
two bedraggled figures. As Metak walked quickly 
across the pavement with the girl at his side, Bertha 
Kircher could only guess at the man’s intentions* 
She could see no way in which to escape and so she 
went docilely with him, hoping against hope that 
some fortuitous circumstance might eventually arise 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


ms 


that would give her the coveted chance for freedom 
and life^ 

Metak led her toward a building which, as the^ 
entered, she recognized as the same to which she and 
Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick had been led when they 
were brought into the city. There was no man sit- 
ting behind the carved desk now, but about the room 
were a dozen or more warriors in the tunics of the 
house to which they were attached, in this case white 
with a small lion in the form of a crest or badge 
upon the breast and back Df each. 

As Metak entered and the men recognized him 
they arose, and in answer to a query he put, they 
pointed to an arched doorway at the rear of the 
room. Toward this Metak led the girl and then, as 
though filled with a sudden suspicion, his eyes nar- 
rowed cunningly and turning toward the soldiery he 
issued an order which resulted in their all preceding 
him through the small doorway and up a flight of 
stairs a short distance beyond. 

The stairway and the corridor above were lighted 
by small flares which revealed several doors in the 
walls of the upper passageway. To one of these the 
men led the prince. Bertha Kircher saw them knock 
upon the door and heard a voice reply faintly 
through the thick door to the summons. The effect 
upon those about her was electrical. Instantly ex- 
citement reigned, and in response to orders from the 
king’s son the soldiers commenced to beat heavily 
upon the door, to throw their bodies against it and 
to attempt to hew away the panels with their sabers. 


THE FLIGHT FROM XU J A 


399 


The girl wondered at the cause of the evident excite- 
ment of her captors. 

She saw the door giving to each renewed assault, 
but what she did not see just before it crashed 
inward was the figures of the two men who alone, 
in all the world, might have saved her, pass between 
the heavy hangings in an adjoining alcove and dis- 
appear into a dark corridor. 

As the door gave and the warriors rushed into 
the apartment followed by the prince, the latter 
became immediately filled with baffled rage, for the 
rooms were deserted except for the dead body of the 
owner of the palace, and the still form of the black 
slave, Otobu, where they lay stretched upon the floor 
of the alcove. 

The prince rushed to the windows and looked out, 
but as the suite overlooked the barred den of lions 
from which, the prince thought, there could be no 
escape, his puzzlement was only increased. Though 
he searched about the room for some clue to the 
whereabouts of its former occupants he did not dis- 
cover the niche behind the hangings. With the fick- 
leness of insanity he quickly tired of the search, and, 
turning to the soldiers who had accompanied him 
from the floor below, dismissed them. 

After setting up the broken door as best they 
could, the men left the apartment and when they 
were again alone Metak turned toward the girl. As 
he approached her, his face distorted by a hideous 
leer, his features worked rapidly in spasmodic 
twitches. The girl, who was standing at the entrance 


400 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


of the alcove, shrank back, her horror reflected in 
her face. Step by step she backed across the room, 
while the crouching maniac crept stealthily after 
her with clawlike fingers poised in anticipation of the 
moment they should leap forth and seize her. 

As she passed the body of the Negro, her foot 
touched some obstacle at her side, and glancing down 
she saw the spear with which Otobu had been sup- 
posed to hold the prisoners. Instantly she leaned 
forward and snatched it from the floor with its sharp 
point directed at the body of the madman. The 
effect upon Metak was electrical. From stealthy 
silence he broke into harsh peals of laughter, and 
drawing his saber danced to and fro before the girl, 
but whichever way he went the point of the spear 
still threatened him. 

Gradually the girl noticed a change in the tone 
of the creature’s screams that was also reflected in 
the changing expression upon his hideous coun- 
tenance. His hysterical laughter was slowly chang- 
ing into cries of rage while the silly leer upon his 
face was supplanted by a ferocious scowl and up- 
curled lips, which revealed the sharpened fangs 
beneath. 

He now ran rapidly in almost to the spear’s point, 
only to jump away, run a few steps to one side and 
again attempt to make an entrance, the while he 
slashed and hewed at the spear with such violence 
that it was with difficulty the girl maintained her 
guard, and all the time was forced to give ground 
step by step. She had reached the point where she was 


THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA 


401 


standing squarely against the couch at the side of 
the room when, with an incredibly swift movement, 
Metak stooped and grasping a low stool hurled it 
directly at her head. 

She raised the spear to fend off the heavy missile, 
but she was not entirely successful, and the impact 
of the blow carried her backward upon the couch, 
and instantly Metak was upon her. 

Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick gave little thought as 
to what had become of the other two occupants of 
the room. They were gone, and so far as these two 
were concerned they might never return. Tarzan’s 
one desire was to reach the street again, where, now 
that both of them were in some sort of disguise^ 
they should be able to proceed with comparative 
safety to the palace and continue their search for 
the girl. 

Smith-Oldwick preceded Tarzan along the cor- 
ridor and as they reached the ladder he climbed aloft 
to remove the trap. He worked for a moment and 
then, turning, addressed Tarzan. 

‘‘Did we replace the cover on this trap when we 
came down.^ I don’t recall that we did.” 

“No,” said Tarzan, “it was left open.” 

“So I thought,” said Smith-Oldwick, “but it’s 
closed now and locked. I cannot move it. Possibly 
you can,” and he descended the ladder. 

Even Tarzan’s immense strength, however, had 
no effect other than to break one of the rungs of the 
ladder against which he was pushing, nearly pre- 


402 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


cipitating him to the floor below. After the rung 
broke he rested for a moment before renewing his 
efforts, and as he stood with his head near the cover 
of the trap, he distinctly heard voices on the roof 
above him. 

Dropping down to Oldwick^s side he told him 
what he had heard. “We had better find some other 
way out,” he said, and the two started to retrace 
their steps toward the alcove. Tarzan was again 
in the lead, and as he opened the door in the back 
of the niche, he was suddenly startled to hear, in 
tones of terror and in a woman’s voice, the words: 
“O God, be merciful!” from just beyond the 
hangings. 

Here was no time for cautious investigation and, 
not even waiting to find the aperture and part the 
hangings, but with one sweep of a brawny hand 
dragging them from their support, the ape-man 
leaped from the niche into the alcove. 

At the sound of his entry the maniac looked up, 
and as he saw at first only a man in the uniform 
of his father’s soldiers, he shrieked forth an angry 
order, but at the second glance which revealed the 
face of the newcomer the madman leaped from the 
prostrate form of his victim and, apparently for- 
getful of the saber which he had dropped upon the 
floor beside the couch as he leaped to grapple with 
the girl, closed with bare hands upon his antagonist, 
his sharp-filed teeth searching for the other’s throat. 

Metak, the son of Herog, was no weakling. Pow- 
erful by nature and rendered still more so in the 


THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA 


403 


throes of one of his maniacal fits of fury he was no 
mean antagonist, even for the mighty ape-man, and 
to this a distinct advantage for him was added by 
the fact that almost at the outset of their battle 
Tarzan, in stepping backward, struck his heel against 
the corpse of the man whom Smith-Oldwick had 
killed, and fell heavily backward to the floor with 
Metak upon his breast. 

With the quickness of a cat the maniac made an 
attempt to fasten his teeth in Tarzan’s jugular, but 
a quick movement of the latter resulted in his find- 
ing a hold only upon the Tarmangani’s shoulder. 
Here he clung while his fingers sought Tarzan’s 
throat, and it was then that the ape-man, realizing 
the possibility of defeat, called to Smith-Oldwick to 
take the girl and seek to escape. 

The Englishman looked questioningly at Bertha 
Kircher, who had now risen from the couch, shaking 
and trembling. She saw the question in his eyes 
and with an effort she drew herself to her full height. 
*‘No,” she cried, ‘‘if he dies here I shall die with 
him. Go if you wish to. You can do nothing here, 
but I — I cannot go.” 

Tarzan had now regained his feet, but the maniac 
still clung to him tenaciously. The girl turned sud- 
denly to Smith-Oldwick. “Your pistol!” she cried. 
“Why don’t you shoot him.^” 

The man drew the weapon from his pocket and 
approached the two antagonists, but by this time 
they were moving so rapidly that there was no op- 
portunity for shooting one without the danger of 


404 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


hitting the other. At the same time Bertha Kircher 
circled about them with the prince’s saber, but 
neither could she find an opening. Again and again 
the two men fell to the floor, until presently Tarzan 
found a hold upon the other’s throat, against which 
contingency Metak had been constantly battling, and 
slowly, as the giant fingers closed, the other’s mad 
eyes protruded from his livid face, his jaws gaped 
and released their hold upon Tarzan’s shoulder, and 
then in a sudden excess of disgust and rage the ape- 
man lifted the body of the prince high above his 
head and with all the strength of his great arms 
hurled it across the room and through the window 
where it fell with a sickening thud into the pit of 
lions beneath. 

As Tarzan turned again toward his companions, 
the girl was standing with the saber still in her 
hand and an expression upon her face that he never 
had seen there before. Her eyes were wide and 
misty with unshed tears, while her sensitive lips 
trembled as though she were upon the point of 
giving way to some pent emotion which her rapidly 
rising and falling bosom plainly indicated she was 
fighting to control. 

‘‘If we are going to get out of here,” said the 
ape-man, “we can’t lose any time. We are together 
at last and nothing can be gained by delay. The 
question now is the safest way. The couple who 
escaped us evidently departed through the passage- 
way to the roof and secured the trap against us 
so that we are cut off in that direction. What 


THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA 


405 


chance have we below? You came that way,” and 
he turned toward the girl. 

‘‘At the foot of the stairs,” she said, “ is a room 
full of armed men. I doubt if we could pass that 
way.’^ 

It was then that Otobu raised himself to a sitting 
posture. ‘‘ So you are not dead after all,” exclaimed 
the ape-man. “Come, how badly are you hurt?” 

The Negro rose gingerly to his feet, moved his 
arms and legs and felt of his head. 

“ Otobu does not seem to be hurt at all, Bwana,” 
he replied, “ only for a great ache in his head.” 

“ Good,” said the ape-man. “ You want to return 
to the Wamabo country?” 

“Yes, Bwana.” 

“Then lead us from the city by the safest way.” 

“There is no safe way,” replied the black, “and 
even if we reach the gates we shall have to fight. 
I can lead you from this building to a side street 
with little danger of meeting anyone on the way. 
Beyond that we must take our chance of discovery. 
You are all dressed as are the people of this wicked 
city so perhaps we may pass unnoticed, but at the 
gate it will be a different matter for none is per- 
mitted to leave the city at night.” 

“Very well,” replied the ape-man, “let us be on 
our way.” 

Otobu led them through the broken door of the 
outer room,, and part way down the corridor he 
turned into another apartment at the right. This 
they crossed to a passageway beyond and finally, 


406 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


traversing several rooms and corridors, he led them 
down a flight of steps to a door which opened di- 
rectly upon a side street in rear of the palace. 

Two men, a woman, and a black slave were not so 
extraordinary a sight upon the streets of the city 
as to arouse comment. When passing beneath the 
flares the three Europeans were careful to choose 
a moment when no chance pedestrian might happen 
to get a view of their features, but in the shadow 
of the arcades there seemed little danger of detec- 
tion. They had covered a good portion of the dis- 
tance to the gate without mishap when there came 
to their ears from the central portion of the city 
soimds* of a great commotion. 

‘‘What does that mean.?” Tarzan asked of Otobu 
now trembling violently. 

“Master,” he replied, “they have discovered that 
which has happened in the palace of Veza, mayor 
of the city. His son and the girl escaped and sum- 
moned soldiers who have now doubtless discovered 
the body of Veza.” 

“ I wonder,” said Tarzan, “ if they have discovered 
the party I threw through the window.” 

Bertha Kircher, who understood enough of the 
dialect to follow their conversation, asked Tarzan 
if he knew that the man he had thrown from the 
window was the king’s son. The ape-man laughed. 
“No,” he said, “I did not. That rather compli- 
cates matters — at least if they have found him.” 

Suddenly there broke above the turmoil behind 
them the clear strains of a bugle. Otobu increased 


THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA 


407 


his pace. “Hurry, Master,” he cried, “it is worse 
than I had thought.” 

“What do you mean.?” asked Tarzan. 

“For some reason the king’s guard and the king’s 
lions are being called out. I fear, O Bwana, that 
we cannot escape them. But why they should be 
called out for us I do not know.” 

But if Otobu did not know, Tarzan at least 
guessed that they had found the body of the king’s 
son. Once again the notes of the bugle rose high 
and clear upon the night air. “ Calling more lions ? ” 
asked Tarzan. 

“ No, Master,” replied Otobu. “ It is the parrots 
they are calling.” 

They moved on rapidly in silence for a few minutes 
when their attention was attracted by the flapping 
of the wings of a bird above them. They looked up 
to discover a parrot circling about over their heads, 

“ Here are the parrots, Otobu,” said Tarzan with 
a grin. “ Do they expect to kill us with parrots ? ” 

The Negro moaned as the bird darted suddenly 
ahead of them toward the city wall. “Now indeed 
are we lost. Master,” cried the black. “The bird 
that found us has flown to the gate to warn the 
guard.” 

“Come, Otobu, what are you talking about?” 
exclaimed Tarzan irritably. “ Have you lived 
among these lunatics so long that you are yourself 
mad?” 

“No, Master,” replied Otobu. “I am not mad. 
You. do not know them. These terrible birds are 


408 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


like human beings without hearts or souls. They 
speak the language of the people of this city of 
Xuja. They are demons, Master, and when in suffi- 
cient numbers they might even attack and kill us.’^ 

“How far are we from the gate?” asked Tarzan. 

“We are not very far,” replied the Negro. “Be- 
yond this next turn we will see it a few paces ahead 
of us. But the bird has reached it before us and 
by now they are summoning the guard,” the truth 
of which statement was almost immediately indicated 
by sounds of many voices raised evidently in com- 
mands just ahead of them, while from behind came 
increased evidence of approaching pursuit — loud 
screams and the roars of lions. 

A few steps ahead a narrow alley opened from the 
east into the thoroughfare they were following and 
as they approached it there emerged from its dark 
shadows the figure of a mighty lion. Otobu halted 
in his tracks and shrank back against Tarzan. 
“ Look, Master,” he whimpered, “ a great black lion 
of the forest!” 

Tarzan drew the saber which still hung at his 
side. “We cannot go back,” he said. “Lions, par- 
rots, or men, it must be all the same,” and he moved 
steadily forward in the direction of the gate. What 
wind was stirring in the city street moved from 
Tarzai toward the lion and when the ape-man had 
approached to within a few yards of the beast, who 
had stood silently eyeing them up to this time, in- 
stead of the expected roar, a whine broke from the 
beast’s thioat. The ape-man was conscious of a 


THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA 


409 


very decided feeling of relief. “It’s Numa of tie 
pit,” he called back to his companions, and to Otobii, 
“Do not fear, this lion will not harm us.” 

Numa moved forward to the ape-man’s side and 
then turning, paced beside him along the narrow 
street. At the next turn they came in sight of the 
gate where, beneath several flares, they saw a group 
of at least twenty warriors prepared to seize them, 
while from the opposite direction the roars of the 
pursuing lions sounded close upon them mingling 
with the screams of numerous parrots which now 
circled about their heads. Tarzan halted and turned 
to the young aviator. “How many rounds of am- 
munition have you left ? ” he asked. 

“I have seven in the pistol,” replied Smith-Old- 
wick, “ and perhaps a dozen more cartridges in my 
blouse pocket.” 

“ I’m going to rush them,” said Tarzan. “ Otobu, 
you stay at the side of the woman. Oldwick you 
and I will go ahead, you upon my left. I think w« 
need not try to tell Numa what to do,” for even then 
the great lion was baring his fangs and growling 
ferociously at the guardsmen, who appeared uneasy 
in the face of this creature which, above all others, 
they feared. 

“As we advance, Oldwick,” said the ape-man, “ fire 
one shot. It may frighten them ; and after that fire 
only when necessary. All ready? Let’s go!” and 
he moved forward toward the gate. At the same time 
Smith-Oldwick discharged his weapon and a yellow- 
coated warrior screamed and crumpled forward upon 


410 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Hs face. For a minute the others showed symptoms 
o;t panic but one, who seemed to be an officer, rallied 
them. ‘‘Now,” said Tarzan, “ all together ! ” and he 
started at a run for the gate. Simultaneously the 
lion, evidently scenting the purpose of the Tarman- 
gajii, broke into a full charge toward the guard. 

Shaken by the report of the unfamiliar weapon, 
the ranks of the guardsmen broke before the furious 
assault of the great beast. The officer screamed 
forth a volley of commands in a mad fury of un- 
controlled rage but the guardsmen, obeying the first 
law of nature as well as actuated by their inherent 
fear of the black denizen of the forest, scattered to 
right and left to elude the monster. With ferocious 
growls Numa wheeled to the right, and with raking 
talons struck right and left among a little handful 
of terrified guardsmen who were endeavoring to eludt 
him, and then Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick closed 
with the others. 

For a moment their most formidable antagonist 
was the officer in command. He wielded his curved 
saber as only an adept might as he faced Tarzan, 
to whom the similar weapon in his own hand was 
most unfamiliar. Smith-Oldwick could not fire for 
fear of hitting the ape-man when suddenly to his 
dismay he saw Tarzan’s weapon fiy from his grasp 
as the Xujan warrior neatly disarmed his opponent. 
With a scream the fellow raised his saber for the 
final cut that would terminate the earthly career 
of Tarzan of the Apes when, to the astonishment 
of both the ape-man and Smith-Oldwick, the fellow 


THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA 


411 


stiffened rigidly, his weapon dropped from the nerve- 
less fingers of his upraised hand, his mad eyes rolled 
upward and foam flecked his bared lip. Gasping as 
though in the throes of strangulation the fellow 
pitched forward at Tarzan’s feet. 

Tarzan stooped and picked up the dead man’s 
weapon, a smile upon his face as he turned and 
glanced toward the young Englishman. 

“The fellow is an epileptic,” said Smith-Oldwick. 
suppose many of them are. Their nervous con- 
dition is not without its good points — a normal 
man would have gotten you.” 

The other guardsmen seemed utterly demoralized 
at the loss of their leader. They were huddled upon 
the opposite side of the street at the left of fdie 
gate, screaming at the tops of their voices and 
looking in the direction from which sounds of rein- 
forcements were coming, as though urging on the 
men and lions that were already too close for the 
comfort of the fugitives. Six guardsmen still stood 
with their backs against the gate, their weapons 
flashing in the light of the flares and their parch- 
ment-like faces distorted in horrid grimaces of rage 
and terror. 

Numa had pursued two fleeing warriors down the 
street which paralleled the wall for a short distance 
at this point. The ape-man turned to Smith-Old- 
wick. “You will have to use your pistol now,” 
he said, “ and we must get by these fellows at once ; ” 
and as the young Englishman fired, Tarzan rushed 
in to close quarters as though he bad not already 


412 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


discovered that with the saber he was no match 
for these trained swordsmen. Two men fell to Smith- 
Oldwick’s first two shots and then he missed, while 
the four remaining divided, two leaping for the avia- 
tor and two for Tarzan. 

The ape-man rushed in in an effort to close with 
one of his antagonists where the other’s saber would 
be comparatively useless. Smith-Oldwick dropped 
one of his assailants with a bullet through the chest 
and pulled his trigger on the second, only to have 
the hammer fall futilely upon an empty chamber. 
The cartridges in his weapon were exhausted and 
the warrior with his razor-edged, gleaming saber 
was upon him* 

Tarzan raised his own weapon but once and that 
to divert a vicious cut for his head. Then he was 
upon one of his assailants and before the fellow could 
regain his equilibrium and leap back after delivering 
his cut, the ape-man had seized him by the neck and 
crotch. Tarzan’s other antagonist was edging 
around to one side where he might use his weapon, 
and as he raised the blade to strike at the back 
of the Tarmangani’s neck, the latter swung the body 
of his comrade upward so that it received the full 
force of the blow. The blade sank deep into the 
body of the warrior, eliciting a single frightful 
scream, and then Tarzan hurled the dying man in 
the face of his final adversary. 

Smith-Oldwick, hard pressed and now utterly de- 
fenseless, had given up all hope in the instant that 
he realized his weapon was empty, when, from his 


THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA 


413 


left, a living bolt of black-maned ferocity shot past 
him to the breast of his opponent. Down went the 
Xujan, his face bitten away by one snap of the 
powerful jaws of Numa of the pit. 

In the few seconds that had been required for the 
consummation of these rapidly ensuing events, Otobu 
had dragged Bertha Kircher to the gate which he 
had unbarred and thrown open, and with the van- 
quishing of the last of the active guardsmen, the 
party passed out of the maniac city of Xuja into 
the outer darkness beyond. At the same moment 
a half dozen lions rounded the last turn in the road 
leading back toward the plaza, and at sight of them 
Numa of the pit wheeled and charged. For a mo- 
ment the lions of the city stood their ground, but 
only for a moment, and then before the black beast 
was upon them, they turned and fled, while Tarzan 
and his party moved rapidly toward the blackness 
of the forest beyond the garden. 

‘‘Will they follow us out of the city?’^ Tarzan 
asked Otobu. 

“Not at night,” replied the black. “I have been 
a slave here for five years but never have I known 
these people to leave the city by night. If they go 
beyond the forest in the daytime they usually wait 
until the dawn of another day before they return as 
they fear to pass through the country of the black 
lions after dark. No, I think, Master, that they 
will not follow us tonight, but tomorrow they will 
come, and, O Bwana, then will they surely get us, 
or those that ai^ left of us, for at least one among 


4iU 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


us must be the toll of the black lions as we pass 
through their forest.’^ 

As they crossed the garden, Smith-Oldwick re- 
filled the magazine of his pistol and inserted a 
cartridge in the chamber. The girl moved silently 
at Tarzan’s left, between him and the aviator. Sud- 
denly the ape-man stopped and turned toward the 
city, his mighty frame, clothed in the yellow tunic 
of Herog’s soldiery, plainly visible to the others be- 
neath the light of the stars. They saw him raise 
his head and they heard break from his lips the 
plaintive note of a lion calling to his fellows. Smith- 
Oldwick felt a distinct shudder pass through his 
frame, while Otobu, rolling the whites of his eyes 
in terrified surprise, sank tremblingly to his knees. 
But the girl thrilled and she felt her heart beat in 
a strange exultation, and then she drew nearer to 
the beast-man until her shoulder touched his arm. 
The act was involuntary and for a moment she scarce 
realized what she had done, and then she stepped 
silently back, thankful that the light of the stars 
was not sufficient to reveal to the eyes of her com- 
panions the flush which she felt mantling her cheek. 
Yet she was not ashamed of the impulse that had 
prompted her, but rather of the act itself which she 
knew, had Tarzan noticed it, would have been re- 
pulsive to him. 

From the open gate of the city of maniacs came 
the answering cry of a lion. The little group waited 
where they stood until presently they saw the ma- 
jestic proportions ^f the black lion as he approached 


THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA 


415 


them along the trail. When he had rejoined them 
Tarzan fastened the fingers of one hand in the black 
mane and started on once more toward the forest. 
Behind them, from the city, rose a bedlam of horrid 
sounds, the roaring of lions mingling with the rau- 
cous voices of the screaming parrots and the mad 
shrieks of the maniacs. As they entered the Stygian 
darkness of the forest the girl once again involun- 
tarily shrank closer to the ape-man, and this time 
Tarzan was aware of the contact. 

Himself without fear, he yet instinctively appre- 
ciated how terrified the girl must be. Actuated by a 
sudden kindly impulse he found her hand and took it 
in his own and thus they continued upon their way, 
groping through the blackness of the trail. Twice 
they were approached by forest lions, butrupon both 
occasions the deep growls of Numa of the pit drove 
off their assailants. Several times they were com- 
pelled to rest, for Smith-Oldwick was constantly 
upon the verge of exhaustion, and toward morning 
Tarzan was forced to carry him on the steep ascent 
from the bed of the valley, , 


CHAPTER XXIV 


THE TOMMIES 

D aylight overtook them after they had en- 
tered the gprge but tired as they all were, with 
the exception of Tarzan, they realized that they must 
keep on at all costs until they found a spot where 
they might ascend the precipitous side of the gorge 
to the floor of the plateau above. Tarzan and Otobu 
were both equally confident that the Xujans would 
not follow them beyond the gorge, but though they 
scanned every inch of the frowning cliffs upon either 
hand noon came and there was still no indication of 
any avenue of escape to right or left. There were 
places where the ape-man alone might have nego- 
tiated the ascent but none where the others could 
hope successfully to reach the plateau, nor where 
Tarzan, powerful and agile as he was, could have 
ventured safely to carry them aloft. 

For half a day the ape-man had been either carry- 
ing or supporting Smith-Oldwick and now, to his 
chagrin, he saw that the girl was faltering. He had 
realized well how much she had undergone and how 
greatly the hardships and dangers and the fatigue 
of the past weeks must have told upon her vitality. 
He saw how bravely she attempted to keep up, yet 
416 


THE TOMMIES 


4ir 


how often she stumbled and staggered as she labored 
through the sand and gravel of the gorge. Nor 
could he help but admire her fortitude and the un- 
complaining effort she was making to push on. 

The Englishman must have noticed her condition 
too, for some time after noon he stopped suddenly 
and sat down in the sand. “ It’s no use,” he said to 
Tarzan, “I can go no farther. Miss Kircher is 
rapidly weakening. You will have to go on with- 
out me.” 

‘‘No,” said the girl, “we cannot do that. We 
have all been through so much together and the 
chances of our escape are still so remote that what- 
ever comes, let us remain together, unless,” and she 
looked up at Tarzan, “ you, who have done so much 
for us, to whom you are under no obligation, will go 
on without us. I for one wish that you would. It 
must be as evident to you as it is to me that 
you cannot save us, for though you succeeded in 
dragging us from the path of our pursuers, even 
your great strength and endurance could never 
take one of us across the desert waste which lies 
between here and the nearest fertile country.” 

The ape-man returned her serious look with a 
smile. “You are not dead,” he said to her, “nor is 
the lieutenant, nor Otobu, nor myself. One is either 
dead or alive, and until we are dead we should plan 
only upon continuing to live. Because we remain 
here and rest is no indication that we shall die here, 
I cannot carry you both to the country of the 
Wamabos, which is the nearest spot at which we 


418 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


may expect to find gsime and water, but we shall 
not give up on that account. So far we have found 
a way. Let us take things as they come. Let us 
rest now because you and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick 
need the rest, and when you are stronger we will go 
on again.” 

“But the Xujans — ?” she asked, “may they not 
follow us here ? ” 

“Yes,” he said, “they probably will. But we 
need not be concerned with them until they come.” 

“I wish,” said the girl, “that I possessed your 
philosophy but I am afraid it is beyond me.” 

“You were not born and reared in the jungle by 
wild beasts and among wild beasts, or you would 
possess, as I do, the fatalism of the jungle.” 

And so they moved to the side of the gorge be- 
neath the shade of an overhanging rock and lay 
down in the hot sand to rest. Numa wandered rest- 
lessly to and fro and finally, after sprawling for 
a moment close beside the ape-man, rose and moved 
off up the gorge to be lost to view a moment later 
beyond the nearest turn. 

For an hour the little party rested and then Tar- 
zan suddenly rose and motioning the others to 
silence, listened. For a minute he stood motionless, 
his keen ears acutely receptive to sounds so faint 
and distant that none of the other three could detect 
the slightest break in the utter and deathlike quiet 
of the gorge. Finally the ape-man relaxed and 
turned toward them. “ What is it ? ” asked the girl. 

“They are coming,” he replied. “They are yet 


THE TOMMIE:^ 


419 


some distance away, though not far for the sandaled 
feet of the men and the pads of the lions make 
little noise upon the soft sands.” 

“ What shall we do — try to go on ? ” asked 
Smith-Oldwick. ‘‘I believe I could make a go of it 
now for a short way. I am much rested. How about 
you Miss Kircher.?^” 

‘‘ Oh, yes,” she said, “ I am much stronger. Yeff, 
surely I an go on.” 

Tarzan knew that neither of them quite spoke the 
truth, that x>€ople do not recover so quickly from 
utter exhaustion, but he saw no other way and 
there was always the hope that just beyond the 
next turn would be a way out of the gorge. 

‘*You help the lieutenant, Otobu,” he said, turn- 
ing to the black, ‘‘and I wiQ carry Miss Kircher,” 
and though the girl objected, saying that he must 
not waste his strength, he lifted her lightly in his 
arms and moved off up the canyon, followed by 
Otobu and the Englishman. They had gone no 
great distance when the others of the party be- 
came aware of the sounds of pursuit, for now the 
lions were whining as though the fresh scent sjxoor 
of their quarry had reached their nostrils. 

“I wish that your Numa would return,” said the 
girl. 

“Yes,” said Tarzan, “but we shall have to do 
the best we can without him. I should like to find 
some place where we can barricade ourselves against 
attack from all sides. Possibly then we might hold 
them off. Smith-Oldwick is a good shot and if there 


420 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


are not too many men he might be able to dispose of 
them provided they can only come at him one at a 
time. The lions don’t bother me so much. Some- 
times they are stupid animals, and I am sure that 
these that pursue us, and who are so dependent 
upon the masters that have raised and trained them, 
will be easily handled after the warriors are dis- 
posed of.” 

“You think there is some hope, then?” she asked. 

“We are still alive,” was his only answer. 

“ There,” he said presently, “ I thought I recalled 
this very spot.” He pointed toward a fragment that 
had evidently fallen from the summit of the clilf 
and which now lay imbedded in the sand a few feet 
from the base. It was a jagged fragment of rock 
which rose some ten feet above the surface of the 
sand, leaving a narrow aperture between it and the 
cliff behind. Toward this they directed their steps 
and when finally they reached their goal they found 
a space about two feet wide and ten feet long be- 
tween the rock and the cliff. To be sure it was 
open at both ends but at least they could not be 
attacked upon all sides at once. 

They had scarcely concealed themselves before 
Tarzan’s quick ears caught a sound upon the face 
of the cliff above them, and looking up he saw a 
diminutive monkey perched upon a slight projection 
— an ugly-faced little monkey who looked down upon 
them for a moment and then scampered away toward 
the south in the direction from which their pursuers 
were coming. Otobu had seen the monkey too. “ He 


THE TOMMIES 


421 


will tell the parrots,” said the black, and the par- 
rots will tell the madmen.” 

«It is all the same,” replied Tarzan; ‘‘the lions 
would have found us here. We could not hope to 
hide from them.” 

He placed Smith-Oldwick, with his pistol, at the 
north opening of their haven and told Otobu to 
stand with his spear at the Englishman’s shoulder, 
while he himself prepared to guard the southern ap- 
proach. Between them he had the girl lie down in 
the sand. “You will be safe there in the event that 
they use their spears,” he said. 

The minutes that dragged by seemed veritable 
eternities to Bertha Kircher and then at last, and 
almost with relief, she knew that the pursuers were 
upon them. She heard the angry roaring of the 
lions and the cries of the madmen. For several 
minutes the men seemed to be investigating the 
stronghold which their quarry had discovered. She 
could hear them both to the north and south and 
then from where she lay she saw a lion charging 
for the ape-man before her. She saw the giant arm 
swing back with the curved saber and she saw it fall 
with terrific velocity and meet the lion as he rose 
to grapple with the man, cleaving his skull as cleanly 
as a butcher opens up a sheep. 

Then she heard footsteps running rapidly toward 
Smith-Oldwick and, as his pistol spoke, there was a 
scream and the sound of a falling body. Evidently 
disheartened by the failure of their first attempt 
the assaulters drew off, but onlj for a short time. 


422 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


Again they came, this time a man opposing Tarzan 
and a lion seeking to overcome Smith-Oldwick. Tar- 
zan had cautioned the young Englishman not to 
waste his cartridges upon the lions and it was Otobu 
with the Xujan spear who met the beast, which was 
not subdued until both he and Smith-Oldwick had 
been mauled, and the latter had succeeded in running 
the point of the saber the girl had carried, into the 
beast’s heart. The man who opposed Tarzan inad- 
vertently came too close in an attempt to cut at the 
ape-man’s head, with the result that an instant later 
his corpse lay with the neck broken upon the body 
of the lion. 

Once again the enemy withdrew, but again only 
for a short time, and now they came in full force, 
the lions and the men, possibly a half dozen of each, 
the men casting their spears and the lions waiting 
just behind, evidently for the signal to charge. 

“Is this the end?” asked the girl. 

“No,” cried the ape-man, “for we still live!” 

The words had scarcely passed his lips when the 
remaining warriors, rushing in, cast their spears 
simultaneously from both sides. In attempting to 
shield the girl, Tarzan received one of the shafts 
in the shoulder, and so heavily had the weapon been 
hurled that it bore him backward to the ground. 
Smith-Oldwick fired his pistol twice when he too was 
struck down, the weapon entering his right leg mid- 
way between hip and knee. Only Otobu remained to 
face the enemy, for the Englishman, already weak 
from his wounds and from the latest mauling he had 


THE TOMMIES 


423 


received at the claws of the lion, had lost conscious- 
ness as he sank to the ground with this new hurt. 

As he fell his pistol dropped from his fingers and 
the girl seeing snatched it up. As Tarzan struggled 
to arise, one of the warriors leaped full upon his 
breast and bore him back as, with fiendish shrieks, 
he raised the point of his saber above the other’s 
heart. Before he could drive it home the girl leveled 
Smith-Oldwick’s pistol and fired point-blank at the 
fiend’s face. 

Simultaneously there broke upon the astonished 
ears of both attackers and attacked, a volley of shots 
from the gorge. With the sweetness of the voice 
of an angel from heaven the Europeans heard the 
sharp-barked commands of an English non-com. 
Even above the roars of the lions and the screams 
of the maniacs, those beloved tones reached the ears 
of Tarzan and the girl at the very moment that even 
the ape-man had given up the last vestige of hope. 

Rolling the body of the warrior to one side Tarzan 
struggled to his feet, the spear still protruding from 
his shoulder. The girl rose too, and as Tarzan 
wrenched the weapon from his fiesh and stepped out 
from behind the concealment of their refuge, she fol- 
lowed at his side. The skirmish that had resulted 
in their rescue was soon over. Most of the lions es- 
caped but all of the pursuing Xujans had been slain. 
As Tarzan and the girl came into full view of the 
group, a British Tommy leveled his rifie at the ape- 
man. Seeing the fellow’s actions and realizing in- 
stantly the natural error that Tarzan’s yellow tunic 


4^4 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


had occasioned the girl sprang between him and the 
soldier. “ Don’t shoot,” she cried to the latter, ‘‘ we 
are both friends.” 

‘‘ Hold up your hands, you, then,” he commanded 
Tarzan. “ I ain’t taking no chances with any duffer 
with a yellow shirt.” 

At this juncture the British sergeant who had 
been in command of the advance guard approached 
and when Tarzan and the girl spoke to him in Eng- 
lisn, explaining their disguises, he accepted their 
word, since they were evidently not of the same race 
as the creatures which lay dead about them. Ten 
minutes later the main body of the expedition came 
into view. Smith-Oldwick’s wounds were dressed, as 
well as were those of the ape-man, and in half an 
hour they were on their way to the camp of their 
rescuers. 

That night it was arranged that the following day 
Smith-Oldwick and Bertha Kircher should be trans- 
ported to British headquarters near the coast by 
aeroplane, the two planes attached to the expedi- 
tionary force being requisitioned for the purpose. 
Tarzan and Otobu declined the offers of the British 
captain to accompany his force overland on the re- 
turn march as Tarzan explained that his country 
lay to the west, as did Otobu’s, and that they would 
travel together as far as the country of the 
Wamabos. 

‘‘You are not going back with us, then?” asked 
the girl. 

“No,” replied the ape-man. “My home is upon 


THE TOMMIES 


425 


the west coast. I will continue my journey in that 
direction.” 

She cast appealing eyes toward him. “You will 
go back into that terrible jungle.'*” she asked. “We 
shall never see you again.?” 

He looked at her a moment in silence. “Never,” 
he said, and without another word turned and walked 
away. 

In the morning Colonel Capell came from the base 
camp in one of the planes that was to carry Smiths 
Oldwick and the girl to the east. Tarzan was stand- 
ing some distance away as the ship landed and the 
officer descended to the ground. He saw the colonel 
greet his junior in command of the advance detach- 
ment, and then he saw him turn toward Bertha 
Kircher who was standing a few paces behind the 
captain. Tarzan wondered how the German spy 
felt in this situation, especially when she must know 
that there was one there who knew her real status. 
He saw Colonel Capell walk toward her with out- 
stretched hands and smiling face and, although he 
could not hear the words of his greeting, he saw 
that it was friendly and cordial to a degree. 

Tarzan turned away scowling, and if any had 
been close by they might have heard a low growl 
rumble from his chest. He knew that his country 
was at war with Germany and that not only his 
duty to the land of his fathers, but also his personal 
grievance against the enemy people and his hatred 
of them, demanded that he expose the girl’s perfidy, 
and yet he hesitated, and because he hesitated he 


4S6 TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


growled — not at the German spy but at himself 
for his weakness. 

He did not see her again before she entered a 
plane and was borne away toward the east. He bid 
farewell to Smith-Oldwick and received again the oft- 
repeated thanks of the young Englishman. And 
then he saw him too borne aloft in the high circling 
plane and watched until the ship became a speck 
far above the eastern horizon to disappear at last 
high in air. 

The Tommies, their packs and accouterments 
slung, were waiting the summons to continue their 
return march. Colonel Capell had, through a desire 
to personally observe the stretch of country between 
the camp of the advance detachment and the base, 
decided to march back with his troops. Now that 
all was in readiness for departure he turned to Tar- 
zan. “ I wish you would come back with us, Grey- 
stoke,” he said, ‘‘ and if my appeal carries no 
inducement possibly that of Smith-Oldwick and the 
young lady who just left us may. They asked me 
to urge you to return to civilization.” 

“No,” said Tarzan, “I shall go my oTHi way. 
Miss Kircher and Lieutenant Smith-Oldwick were 
only prompted by a sense of gratitude in consider- 
ing my welfare.” 

“Miss Kircher?” exclaimed Capell and then he 
laughed. “You know her then as Bertha Kircher, 
the German spy?” 

Tarzan looked at the other a moment in silenceo 
It was beyond him to conceive that a British officer 


THE TOMMIES 


427 


should thus laconically speak of an enemy spy whom 
he had had within his power and permitted to es- 
cape. ‘‘Yes,” he replied, “I knew that she was 
Bertha Kircher, the German spy.” 

“ Is that all you knew ? ” asked Capell. 

“That is all,” said the ape-man. 

“She is the Honorable Patricia Canby,” said 
Capell; “one of the most valuable members of the 
British Intelligence Service attached to the East 
African forces. Her father and I served in India 
together and I have known her ever since she was 
bom. 

“Why here’s a packet of papers she took from a 
German officer and has been carrying it through all 
her vicissitudes — single-minded in the performance 
of her duty. Look! I haven’t yet had time to ex- 
amine them but as you see here is a military sketch 
map, a bundle of reports, and the diary of one 
Hauptmann Fritz Schneider.” 

“The diary of Hauptmann Fritz Schneider!” re- 
peated Tarzan in a constrained voice. “May I see 
it, Capell? He is the man who murdered Lady 
Greystoke.” 

The Englishman handed the little volume over to 
the other without a word. Tarzan ran through the 
pages quickly looking for a certain date — the date 
that the horror had been committed — ‘and when he 
found it he read rapidly. Suddenly a gasp of in- 
credulity burst from his lips. Capell looked at him 
questioningly. 

God!” exclaimed the ape-man. “Can this be 


TARZAN THE UNTAMED 


ms 


true? Listen!” and he read an excerpt from the 
closely written page: 

Played a little joke on the English pig. When 
he comes home he will find the burned body of his 
wife in her boudoir — but he will only think it is his 
wife. Had von Goss substitute the body of a dead 
Negress and char it after putting Lady Greystoke’s 
rings on it — Lady G will be of more value to the 
'High Command alive than dead.’” 

‘‘She lives!” cried Tarzan. 

“Thank God!” exclaimed Capell. “And now?” 

“I will return with you, of course. How terribly 
I have wronged Miss Canby, but how could I know? 
I even told Smith-Oldwick who loves her, that she 
was a German spy. 

“Not only must I return to find my wife but I 
must right this wrong.” 

“ Don’t worry about that,” said Capell, “ she must 
have convinced him that she is no enemy spy, for 
just before they left this morning he told me she 
had promised to marry him.*^ 


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THE JAZZ WIDOW 

The story of a handsome widow who inherited a fortune and set out to 
find youth and love in Paris. It remained for her daughter to show what 
true love is. 

LOVE’S MIRACLE 

Business to Jane meant tea dancing and dinner at the Ritz — night clubs 
and champagne. She was a success — but the man she loved said she was 
trading in love. 

A KISS FOR CORINNA 

Corinna is in love with a man who is pursued by a pleasure seeking 
society girl — and the irony of the situation is that it is her duty to make 
this girl beautiful. A fascinating story of the twists and turns in rivalry 
and love. 

EAGER LOVE 

The story of Mary Oliver, whose quest for love carries her into a dra- 
matic and exciting situation. A lovable and very human heroine — one who 
has all the fine instincts which tend to build character in a woman. 

MAN MADNESS 

Three girls in love with one man. To what length will they go to win 
his love? Love, sacrifice, passion, conflict, duty, — these are some of the 
elements that go to make Man Madness ” a thrilling story of modern life. 

LOVE’S ECSTASY 

A little stenographer fighting for her love against a fascinating young 
mistress of millions, A duel of feminine wits and wiles that you will fol- 
low with burning interest. It is a romance of surprising twists and turns. 


GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK 


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